The announcement of John Mayer, solo in the Ziggo Dome, made many music lovers tremble – in a good way, that is. Music critics, on the other hand, have had nothing to do with the ‘predictable’ and ‘boring’ almost-fifties for regarding fifteen years. After all, Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend hasn’t made a compelling album in regarding fifteen years. Since Battle Studies (2009), little memorable has come from his hands, and yet the Amsterdam mega hall is packed for two evenings.
Photografie Shali Blok
With the emphasis on ‘sit’, by the way, because John thought it was a good idea to do these solo shows seated. An understandable choice in itself, because this is how you prevent the Dutch disease from spreading – and let’s just say that there is sufficient song material to prevent that at a show of this caliber… That said, this setting is also ideal for to give it an An Evening With character, a bit like Nick Cave did a few years ago. This does not necessarily mean that Mayer will talk to the audience, but if he were to largely grant requests evening following evening, that would add value to a show on which people spent an average of around one hundred and fifty euros per ticket.
Moreover, the American plays a different set list every night. And don’t blame him, he is on this tour all over the world, on his own every time. Of course you do what you feel like doing. However, this interpretation brings with it many opportunities that he does not seize. Once he follows what the audience asks: Vultures, which he says doesn’t sound at all on an acoustic guitar. That must almost be a joke, because we are looking at one of the best guitarists of the past thirty years. It turns out to be possible (of course), and what follows is a fantastic and unorthodox performance of what is one of the prize songs on his breakthrough album Continuum (2006).
Fortunately, there are more highlights like that, just enough for John Mayer to score a passing grade on this evening. But first let’s get to the bottom of things, because wow, there’s a lot of lazy material in an average setlist from the best man. He might have made it a greatest hits tour, with mainly work from his first two albums, but that doesn’t happen. Instead, we fall asleep at every turn through excruciatingly boring songs like In Your Atmosphere – not surprising that it has never been released – and Changing, which (on the piano) is played flatter than flat, and where really quite- nothing happens until the moment when Mayer just walks on his piano and picks up an electric guitar. At such moments it becomes painfully clear that he really feels a lot more comfortable with the stringed instrument than at the keys.
With the fantastic Stop This Train, for which Mayer fortunately stepped away from the piano once more, he quickly straightens things out. Striking: the bit of audience participation, where the hall lights come on to encourage Ziggo to sing along, falls terribly short. This is the downside of a seated show: it never comes loose, and singing along is apparently simply not an option. We are more than halfway through at that point, and the relationship between phenomenal guitar playing and good songs on the one hand and sappy nonsense (which are sometimes sung impurely, such as You’re Gonna Live In Me Forever) on the other, is extremely fragile.
Fortunately, there is still plenty of room for sweets in this meager set list, starting with the virtuosity that Mayer displays with his guitar. Yes, it’s obvious, but damn, that man can play the guitar. It is impressive how he transforms his acoustic guitar into a bass guitar during the exciting Neon, then seamlessly transitions into the last verse, picking up the strings regarding six times in one sentence to strike another chord. The big screens clearly show what an incomparable guitarist he is, and that is exactly why he – in combination with classics such as Your Body Is a Wonderland and the inevitable (but well performed) Tom Petty cover Free Fallin – with a solo show in this form is possible.
Yet you walk out of the Ziggo Dome with an unsatisfied feeling, not least because Mayer played set lists earlier this tour that were considerably more fascinating than tonight’s, but also because he doesn’t get out what was in it at all. What might have been a charm offensive, also towards sour music critics like the above, therefore feels like a very easy way to cash in.
Seen: March 21, 2024 in Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam.
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