John Mayer has enjoyed a glittering career as a gentle, acoustically based pop craftsman of substance as well as a virtuosic guitar hero for the past eighteen years. People at his concerts come to see both and that is what they got. Mayer started with promise with his second album and first major label debut Room For Squares in 2001 and in the subsequent couple of decades has fulfilled that promise as a major recording artist whose songs and musical style are authentic and real, the kind we like and the perfect antidote to all sorts of artificiality and falseness in our modern world. Part of Mayer’s aesthetic is a thematic and musical affection for the middle America of the 80’s, and this supplies a personal, intimate earthiness to his work.

The show opened with a 45 minute set at 7:40pm, then a half hour interval, then another hour and fifty minutes. So, just over 2 hours and 30 minutes of stage time over the entire three hour running time, which was pretty good, I thought. The show opened with a penetrating and reflective lilt with Queen Of California and i Guess I Just Feel Like, both of which are gentle, acoustic based but subtly intense songs.

Singer/songwriter John MayerNot too intense though, John Mayer is a master at the knack of balancing pop and rock so it’s not too heavy, not too light. Next was his classic, Heartbreak Warfare from Battle Studies, with its soaring, sweet and gently melancholic vocal in the chorus. The thing that stood out about Mayer’s eight piece band and its sound is that together with Mayer they really expanded and beefed up the sound on the songs compared to the recorded versions to really warm, agreeable effect. I’ve gone to all sorts of concerts, and usually those big enough to attract an audience that fills stadiums the size of Rod Laver Arena are spectaculars saturated with light shows, costume changes and dancers but here was just the band and the songs with a tie-dye sheet of a screen behind them.

As described earlier though, this is Mayer and his band’s charm, real, authentic music, down to earth and unpretentious. Tonic for the heart and soul, and the superlative songwriting and fine musicianship were more than enough to carry it. John Mayer is a heart-warmingly gratifying addition to the tradition of great American singer-songwriters and I have seen a few of them, such as kd lang, Bob Dylan and Melissa Etheridge, that’s what this show was all about. We were also lucky enough to get Mayer and his band at the beginning of their world tour, therefore they were fresh and vibrant, unlike Cher who Australia got at the end of her 2005 farewell tour and on that occasion was reportedly exhausted and phoning in her performance on autopilot.

And to people at the front who had paid $600 at 2005 prices to see her. I saw Stevie Nicks singing Rhiannon, Gypsy and Dreams like a robot at Fleetwood Mac’s 2004 concert in the midst of a very long tour although it was only in those songs and the rest of the John Mayer’s music can almost be described as rural-tinged, guitar based soul music, as evidenced by the easy, gentle lilt of the songs chosen in his first set, combining just the right blend of the melancholic and uplifting, with gems such as Love On The Weekend and his inspirational Waiting On The World To Change from Continuum, which rounded out the first set, punctuated by a couple of more rock n’ roll, searing guitar solos.

Mayer returned on his own after the interval and then with his percussionist for an honest, compelling set of four acoustic songs, including the beloved Daughters and Neon from Room For Squares, which you might not have thought would lend itself to the guitar and voice acoustic form, but such is the precision and pretty clarity of Mayer’s guitar playing, it was lovely. Also in this section was a heartfelt, haunting rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s I’m On Fire from his legendary 1984 album, Born In The USA. Mayer is even wearing a quintessentially mid-80’s American sweatshirt on the tour, with the short sleeves cut off high and on angles on the bicep, another nod to his love of the American mid-80’s, a wonderful era of relative, good natured innocence and carefree living.

I am old enough to recognise this, for me the 80’s were adolescence, for Mayer, childhood, and I know from having lived my teenage pop-loving life in those years that Mayer’s references and understanding of the music, society and culture of the times are spot on. With the return of the band came the second half of the show and more soothing, dreamy and warm, yet thought-provoking songs such as New Light, Love Is A Verb and the yearning Slow Dancing In A Burning Room. At times Mayer showcased his extraordinary dexterity on both acoustic and electric guitars, wowing us all with his range of skills and techniques in extended, sparkling solos. My friend said that this was effectively the only time he’d get to see Eric Clapton live, there could be no higher compliment to Mayer’s guitar playing.

His band are wonderful as well and deserve mention as well for their outstanding musicianship. Mayer treated us to his famous wit as well, making the audience laugh at times with his genuinely hilarious, intelligent banter. Which extended to dealing with a heckler in the front rows. When Mayer asked the woman in question, “Did you just issue me a challenge to bring it?” I thought it was all joking and in fun but when the camera was turned to her on the screens, she was being genuinely aggressive and judgemental. Which was incredible given she was in the $500 seats, surely the realm of the adoring super fan. But apparently not. Mayer dealt with her in thickly ironic, cheeky form. But this was a side distraction and didn’t detract at all from an evening of wonderful, solidly rousing music.