John Mayer Showcases All Of His Musical Personalities At Magical London Show

Last night marked John Mayer’s second consecutive show at London’s O2 Arena, and the last of his only UK dates on his current ‘The Search For Everything’ tour.

Despite his reputation for dating some of the world’s most high profile women, when you go to a John Mayer show, you’re going for the music - or at least that’s what the crowd at last night’s show suggested.

Mayer split his show into chapters with each one showcasing a different musical personality. Chapter one was with his full band, a seven-strong force that blew the audience away as they played songs such as ‘Waiting On The World To Change’ and ‘No Such Thing’. 

Stripping it back for chapter two, we were treated to just John and his guitar for the acoustic section of the concert. The segment including the tear-jerking ‘Stop This Train’ whose lyrics show how his music really is a story-telling art form.

To the crowd’s delight, chapter three saw the return of The John Mayer Trio, with drummer Steve Jordan and bassist Pino Palladino joining him for a bombastic blues-rock set. And of course this included some mind-blowing guitar solos from Mayer and jamming between the three of them.

His band joined him again for chapter four, the ‘Full Band (Reprise)’, to which John mentioned how each person on that stage were capable of going out on their own tours and how he was honoured that they were joining him on his. A particularly special moment was when his long-time friend and touring partner David Ryan Harris performed an intro to ‘Slow Dancing In A Burning Room’ - truly demonstrating the calibre of musicians on stage. 

He ended the main part of the show with ‘Dear Marie’, and as he left the stage the crowd continued the ‘oohs’ until he came back on with the full band for an encore consisting of ‘Edge Of Desire’ and of course, the holy grail of John Mayer songs, ‘Gravity’. 

Just when you thought the show was over (and many people did as they exited The O2), Mayer graced the stage once more, this time with a piano. He performed two tracks for chapter five, the epilogue, finishing with one from his latest EP The Search For Everything, ’You're Gonna Live Forever in Me’.

Despite usually being quite vocal (on Twitter he’s practically a stand-up comedian) he didn’t chat much between songs apart simple ‘thank you’s to the crowd and gratitude for his band, but after all, we were all there to hear him perform. The whole show had a special edge that comes from someone who lives and breathes the music.

SET LIST

Chapter One: Full Band
Waiting on the World to Change
Helpless
Moving On and Getting Over
No Such Thing
Changing

Chapter Two: Acoustic
Dreaming With a Broken Heart
Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967
Stop This Train
Whiskey Whiskey
Neon

Chapter Three: Trio
Crossroads (Robert Johnson cover)
Good Love Is on the Way
Vultures

Chapter Four: Full Band (Reprise)
In the Blood
Still Feel Like Your Man
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
Dear Marie

Encore
Edge of Desire
Gravity

Chapter Five: Epilogue
I Will Be Found (Lost at Sea)
You're Gonna Live Forever in Me

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