John Mayer Trio @ the Kool Hause
John Mayer performed in front of a couple thousand people in Toronto on Wednesday but the concert was unlike the John Mayer concerts listeners have come to expect from the writer of Grammy-winning songs Your Body is a Wonderland and Daughters. Of the songs played only two were from released John Mayer albums. So what was the two hour concert composed of, if there was so little hook driven pop- rock to be heard?
The "John Mayer Trio" - a group which includes Pino Palladino (who has toured with Jeff Beck and The Who) on bass and Steve Jordan (who has performed with The Rolling Stones) on drums - has most definitely swayed from the original John Mayer music Mayer's listeners have come to love, playing blues based songs as a replacement.
As a result of this "genre shift" the atmosphere at Kool Haus venue on Wednesday October 5, was different to what it has been in the past (I have been to four other John Mayer concerts - so now you know exactly how biased a review this is). The old guitar faces and strange dancing were still there but even with them the music was different.
In the past concerts have included people (mostly girls in their teens and early twenties) swaying to and singing along with almost every song. The swaying (or dancing if it is possible to dance to blues) was present however singing by the crowd for a large part was non-existent, except during Daughters of course. As Mayer went for a drink of water one guy said, "I drink water too, John!", a comment which drew laughs from those near the guy who said it but which Mayer ignored - or didn't hear?
A woman yelled "you are my daughter's hero" a statement that also received no reply. Mayer's guitar playing has always been difficult to replicate. As I, a novice guitar player can attest to, aside from the songs on his Heavier Things album (which are a little easier) most having been spit out and recorded in only a few months, his guitar solo's are not like those you find on most pop-rock records. These new songs use blues scales and technique but in such a way that it is intoxicating to watch - moving from first fret to tenth with ease in milliseconds and creating a sound if not entirely unique to the world new to many of Mayer's listeners, I would guess. For those who don't like blues however you are out of luck - these new songs are not for the most part like the old ones, although the lyrics are still intelligent and witty, the guitar playing is different, and the overall experience something new.
Titles of his new songs played on Wednesday include Vultures and Who did you think I was?About an hour into the concert Mayer does something, he, as countless other musicians have done before, grabbed a person from the audience's camera. From there he started taking pictures of his one hand playing guitar, soon - something a bit different happened - the camera became a pseudo pick as it was slid up and down the strings plucking at intervals.
Later in the show a song was created, using a combination of chords that Mayer said could create any song, proving his statement he made one up. The message of the song was basically centered around a chorus in which "I'm tired of having sex dreams about girls I don't even like" was said at regular intervals. The song was cute and witty the way that John Mayer improvisation regularly is. The always expected encore (I don't think I've ever been to a concert where an encore did not occur) included Grammy winner Daughters (a song to be honest I am somewhat sick of) and a new song Gravity.
This drastic change from pop-rock to blues has been called "career suicide" by some critics and by others a move towards musical credibility rather than monetary success. Whatever the case Mayer seems to have taken that typical step musicians take as they try to decide what direction they want to take with their careers, from here anything could happen.
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