John Mayer - O2 London

PearlsPreserve

I went to see John Mayer at the O2 on Monday.  My word, the guy is unbelievably talented.

He came on stage at 8.35 and played for two solid hours, without a band.  He was completely on his own.  And he was brilliant the whole time.  He must have used about 20 different acoustic guitars (including his double neck Martin) and also did a 3 song stint on piano.

The sound quality was brilliant, and his voice was brilliant.  He was also very engaging and did away with a lot of the pontificating that he can do when doing a live show.  

Needless to say his guitar work was incredible.  There were many times when I just couldn't fathom how he was playing what he was playing, whilst also singing.  

Amazingly, he used an electric guitar once, for probably about 2 minutes.  It kind of felt like he was doing it because that's what people expected.

All in all, genuinely spectacular.  The O2 was full to the rafters, and most of the time when he was playing was absolutely silent as everyone was so unraptured with his playing.

Honestly, one of the best concerts of been to.

joeW

Solo for 2 hrs - that is amazing and probably an excellent way for a musician of his level to showcase himself.   Great when a concerts really delivers. 

ftumch

We were lucky enough to be in the exclusive 93 at the o2 on Monday for this, he was fab and the venue was amazing. Only problem now is I can never slum it again in the cheap seats

LionAquaLooper

Acoustic guitar for 2 hrs straight? So basically he was just busking. 

guitars4you

Spoke to a customer last weekend who was looking forward to this - Going with his wife - 2 day trip, as need to stay over for the O2 to get trains back to the Midlands - Didn't realise it was going to be an 'unplugged' gig - Sounds very good 

PearlsPreserve

guitars4you said:

Spoke to a customer last weekend who was looking forward to this - Going with his wife - 2 day trip, as need to stay over for the O2 to get trains back to the Midlands - Didn't realise it was going to be an 'unplugged' gig - Sounds very good 

My parents did the same.  I live in the Midlands, but work in London, so just tied the gig in with being in the office.  My parents made a trip of it and enjoyed pottering around London on the Monday and Tuesday.

I didn't realise it was going to be unplugged.  I had booked the tickets a year ago and then kind of forgot about it.  In a way I was glad (it would have been great to see him play his blue stuff with the John Mayer Trio, another time) as it was so different.  

Something I did notice, he is clearly massive.  I kept thinking the guitars he was playing were parlour style, until he got a parlour style out, and it looked like a ukelele!

RocknRollDave

Would have loved to have seen this.
 I also love his Trio stuff and a fair bit of his housewife-friendly material, but I couldn’t be doing with his ‘let’s sound like Clapton during his rolled-up-Armani-sleeves era’ excursion.

darius

I remember looking at the prices of the last few tickets for this and swiftly moving on with a little chuckle. Would have loved to see it. 

euan

What looper did he use?

MikeP

'Less cats more money'
 junior Wells

Dominic

PearlsPreserve said:

guitars4you said:

Spoke to a customer last weekend who was looking forward to this - Going with his wife - 2 day trip, as need to stay over for the O2 to get trains back to the Midlands - Didn't realise it was going to be an 'unplugged' gig - Sounds very good 

My parents did the same.  I live in the Midlands, but work in London, so just tied the gig in with being in the office.  My parents made a trip of it and enjoyed pottering around London on the Monday and Tuesday.

I didn't realise it was going to be unplugged.  I had booked the tickets a year ago and then kind of forgot about it.  In a way I was glad (it would have been great to see him play his blue stuff with the John Mayer Trio, another time) as it was so different.  

Something I did notice, he is clearly massive.  I kept thinking the guitars he was playing were parlour style, until he got a parlour style out, and it looked like a ukelele!

6 ' 3" .....Tall but not massive

guitars4you

PearlsPreserve said:

guitars4you said:

Spoke to a customer last weekend who was looking forward to this - Going with his wife - 2 day trip, as need to stay over for the O2 to get trains back to the Midlands - Didn't realise it was going to be an 'unplugged' gig - Sounds very good 

My parents did the same.  I live in the Midlands, but work in London, so just tied the gig in with being in the office.  My parents made a trip of it and enjoyed pottering around London on the Monday and Tuesday.

I didn't realise it was going to be unplugged.  I had booked the tickets a year ago and then kind of forgot about it.  In a way I was glad (it would have been great to see him play his blue stuff with the John Mayer Trio, another time) as it was so different.  

Something I did notice, he is clearly massive.  I kept thinking the guitars he was playing were parlour style, until he got a parlour style out, and it looked like a ukelele!

I'll see him again next week, but the way he was speaking he never mentioned anything about a solo/unplugged gig, so I assume he thought it was a band - I know he has seen him 2/3 times now 

Alterlifeson

I went to the 2nd night, it was one of the best shows I've been to, up there with the best. The whole crowd were absolutely still and captivated during the whole thing, it was like being at a tiny gig in a open mic situation, a very respectful audience that let the artist do their thing.

John picked out sign requests from the crown, one being I Will Be Found which he did on the piano (possibly the highlight for me). You could tell a lot of it was off the cuff, some misremember lyrics and chord fluffs here and there which you could see him laugh at. The first half of the set list was completely different from night 1 which was nice to see for people going to both nights. He brought out Black1 for the only electric song of the show which was a surprise.

I am surprised to see that some people were expecting a normal show with full band, this whole tour has been marketed on the fact that it is solo. 

boogieman

We saw him at the 02 several years back and he did more or the less the same thing: solo and acoustic. Have to say I was slightly disappointed as I love his electric playing and prefer him with a band to fill out some of the songs. 

joneve

I will regret balking at the ticket price for this for the rest of my days. 

It’s unlikely I’d have been able to make it anyway with a crocked dog and two young kids, but it genuinely sounds like 2 of the best nights of live music.