John Mayer 10-4-13

@tonyg wrote:

I drove 170 miles last night to Chula Vista, south of San Diego and one of the last outposts of America before the Mexico border, to see John Mayer. Since it was a Friday and this is So Cal, it took 6 hours to get there. Ouch. I limped into the outdoor venue at 8 pm (left my office at 2) after experiencing the full brunt of LA traffic and San Diego traffic.

Which is funny since I am not really a fan of his music but I am a huge fan of one of his guitarists, Doug Pettibone. This is the reason I like going to live shows ( I hate the dead ones); the performances of his songs were quite great and compared to record were very entertaining and enjoyable. John was also very high energy and chatty and personable and played for 2 hours 15 minutes which I can’t complain about. I only have 1 of his records, Born and Raised, which I only played once but hearing the songs live was a different story. He played about one half of the songs on acoustic guitar and the other half he went crazy on electric. There were two other guitarists, some guy named Zane who was quite good but wearing a hooded serape for some reason and Doug who was on pedal steel half the time. There were three songs towards the end where Doug got to wail away, one a guitar duel with John Mayer and one where he played the mando-guitar that he plays with Lu on People Talking where he took a scorching solo. 15,000 screaming people (ladies) went nuts. It was a pleasant 72 when we started and brisk 65 at the end.

Hollywood Bowl tonite.

I’m feeling a double guest list stint for you, tony–congrats if so. A good reciprocal gesture might be a hooded serape in contrasting across-stage colors.