Saw John Mayer at the Hollywood Bowl last night.. Weird setlist..

[thisisajs]

Saw John Mayer live for the 1st time last night and had a nice evening with the GF. The Hollywood Bowl is a great outdoor venue (id rank it a step below Red Rocks) with good acoustics and 'vibe'.

So, on to the show. We showed up during 'Can’t Find My Way Home', and I was digging the cover, did a good job with it. Having Brad Mehldau guest on the piano was kinda cool and unexpected. Next up, another cover - 'Going To California'. A little weird to do 2 in a row but he segued into 'Stop this Train' which was well done. Next up, ANOTHER cover? Uhhh ok then..

After the last song w/Brad, they took a short break and came back on. Band was super tight as always. Surprised to see Steely Dan's own Keith Carlock on the drum kit - that guy just OWNS it. One of the highlights of the show. Also worthy of note were the guitar tones of course - they sound even better live than any recent recording you might have heard. His lead tone on 'Gravity' was monsterous.

So why did I like and not love the show? He played even MORE covers during the main set. A reggae version of 'Aint No Sunshine' - no thanks, and at the end of 'Half Of My Heart' he went into 'Dont Stop Believing'. What the heck? That might have been neat 5 years ago or whenever the Sopranos ended, but that song is played out.

The way I see it is - dude, you're John Mayer. You have sold millions of albums, why do you have to pander to the crowd by playing so many covers? Look at the setlist below, there were dozens of other songs he couldve played instead of those 6 covers.

To to get the thread moving, has there ever been a time when you saw a band and were dumbfounded by their setlist choices? Who did you see and what did they play that made the show strange?

*This is NOT a bash John Mayer thread btw. We know how some of you feel so theres no need to add your negativity about his abilities in this thread. Lets talk setlists.

-Duo Setlist-
Wind Cries Mary (w/Brad Mehldau)
Can’t Find My Way Home (w/Brad Mehldau)
Going To California > Stop This Train (w/Brad Mehldau)
Bittersweet Symphony (w/Brad Mehldau)

-Main Setlist-
Chest Fever > Vultures
Clarity
Why Georgia
Ain’t No Sunshine
Perfectly Lonely
I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)
Heartbreak Warfare
Gravity
Who Says
Waiting on the World to Change
Do You Know Me
Half of My Heart > Don’t Stop Believing

Encore: Edge of Desire

[boldaslove1977]

there's only one explanation for this...

JM has been keeping up with TGP cover band threads!

[Guitar Josh]

I'm probably one of the biggest fans of Mayer on this board and I agree with your post and probably wouldn't have enjoyed the show either.

But I'm still mad at John for not playing me NEON after going to SIX SHOWS. Play Neon!!!!

[shark_bite]

Holy crap. JM threads and covers threads have now converged TWICE in one day. At least there's substance in this one though. Someone should shoot the OP of the other one, what an inane prick.

[boldaslove1977]

Originally Posted by Guitar Josh

I'm probably one of the biggest fans of Mayer on this board and I agree with your post and probably wouldn't have enjoyed the show either.

But I'm still mad at John for not playing me NEON after going to SIX SHOWS. Play Neon!!!!

haha... guitar josh and i agree on something!!!! all is not lost on TGP! very strange set list indeed. and only one song in the encore?

Originally Posted by shark_bite

Holy crap. JM threads and covers threads have now converged TWICE in one day. At least there's substance in this one though. Someone should shoot the OP of the other one, what an inane prick.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... you are killing me today... i keeping busting out laughing at my desk at work... which makes it obvious i'm not... umm... working....

[jbbusybee]

I'm excited that Mayer played with Meldhau. At least he chooses to play with good musicians.

[chell]

I like Mayer's music but you're right.. the setlist looks ok at best.

[shark_bite]

Sorry... no complaints here. I've always liked JM's covers.

[Phalanx200bc]

Well done, almost a whole week w/o a JM thread.

[shark_bite]

Also.... some insight as to why it was all covers with Mehldau might come from the opening statement on this song:



Again, I like JM just fine and Brad Mehldau is a monster player. I would have been thrilled to hear them both play together. Thank god for YouTube.

[boldaslove1977]

Originally Posted by shark_bite

Also.... some insight as to why it was all covers with Mehldau might come from the opening statement on this song:

ah ha... i guess that would have been very cool to see..

i still think the main sit list is a little off... but i wouldn't have complained if i was there...

[chell]

That's Coldplay... Epic fail.

[aaronblues]

Originally Posted by chell

That's Coldplay... Epic fail.

Agreed.


I think this is the first time i've ever clicked on a JM thread here. i normally just laugh at the JM jokes in all the other threads! Nice to see Meldhau and The Verve's music ( i'm a giant fan) show up. Still don't like his voice at all, but his guitar playing sounds great, and i like all of the cover songs for what they are, good selections. Mighht be a bit much for his fans who want to hear his songs i guess. But that looks on paper like a cool show to me....

cheers

[chell]

My ideal JM set list would include some covers but it would mostly be deeper cuts, a couple of bluesy and jazzy jams and an encore consisting of 2 or 3 new songs.

[thisisajs]

Originally Posted by shark_bite

Also.... some insight as to why it was all covers with Mehldau might come from the opening statement on this song:



Again, I like JM just fine and Brad Mehldau is a monster player. I would have been thrilled to hear them both play together. Thank god for YouTube.

Yes, it was cool to hear them play together, but it was more of a novelty than anything else. I guess that for my money, I would've preferred 4 more originals from the whole band instead.