By: Kate Zachary, Staff Editor
John Mayer has become exceedingly more popular since his first album was released. I attended his latest concert at the Amphitheater at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Alabama, and it was incredible. The festivities started at approximately 7:00 p.m. and lasted until about 11:00 p.m. The amphitheater has three sections of seating: the floor, the middle, and the risers. Out of the estimated 3,000 seats, only about 50 seats were still available. The sun was setting and there was not a cloud in the sky, while anticipating one of my favorite artists, John Mayer to take the stage. What more could I ask for?
Owl City was the opening band and honestly I like the song “Fireflies,” but I was not so sure if I would be able to endure an entire hour and a half of songs that sound exactly the same. Surprisingly it was great, and I was completely entertained the whole time because of their futuristic style and their incorporation of a cellist and violinist. The only problem was that I had to wait another hour and a half for John Mayer to finally make his appearance. He did have enough time to update his Twitter before giving us the concert we all paid for though. When he finally did make his appearance on stage, the crowd went wild as was anticipated, but many of us were somewhat shocked at his appearance. He was wearing a white muscle shirt and black sweatpants, not to mention he looked like he had not showered in months. This was not at all what I had expected, but he did not let me down in the least bit because his music is incredible and he sounded so much better live than he does on his recordings without a doubt. He played his own cover for “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and I think he sang it better than Bill Withers, the original artist. My favorite song by John Mayer is “Edge of Desire,” and it was the song I had waited for him to perform all night. I waited patiently until he announced that he was about to play the last song of the night. As usual, it was not the song I had hoped or expected but it was close enough, instead he performed “Half of My Heart,” which I should have expected considering all of the T-shirts being sold at the concert had something portraying to that song. I was disappointed by that fact when he walked off the stage until the crowd started screaming “encore” and he returned to the stage for one final song. He started the intro and immediately I recognized what song it was; “Edge of Desire.” He even made a personal video that was shown on the screen to go with the song. Since he performed all of my favorite songs, I thought his concert was absolutely perfect. Every fan walked out of the amphitheater ecstatic and pleased.
Mayer is truly one of the most talented artists in the music world, and I encourage everyone to go to at least one of his concerts. I have been to many concerts, but John Mayer’s is by far my favorite. It was a life-changing experience because he really is such a down to earth guy. He’s not interested in all of the glamour of being a celebrity, he just wants to play his music and be heard, doing what he loves to do, by millions of people. I had fun at his concert because he is so entertaining, and I can tell that he is having fun performing and that he actually appreciates his fans. Next time, though, I do hope he looks a little cleaner because I need some pictures of him live that do not quite repulse me as much. Even though he looked pretty terrible, he sounded absolutely unbelievable and that is all a devoted fan could ask for.
