
Toronto was everything but sad when John Mayer brought his Sob Rock Tour to the Scotiabank Arena earlier this week.
The songs Mayer listened to while growing up in the 80’s inspired his new album, which carries the same name as the tour. However, the tone was very different from what we usually would expect from him; though it was cleaner and more melodic, it still stayed true to that iconic Mayer sound whilst bringing something fresh to the stage.
This theme was evident through the night as Mayer and his band managed transformed popular songs to fit the new era. An example of this was ‘Your Body Is A Wonderland’. In order to keep things interesting while continually playing his hits over and over again, Mayer and his band have such a talent in finding new innovative and creative ways to tweak and update their performances and songs to make them sound brand new time and time again. This time around the song featured a jazz inspired solo performed by his guitarist, Isaiah Sharkey. The fact that they are always transforming the songs to fit the current era never fails to amaze me, and no matter how many times you see him, it’s like seeing him live for the first time all over again.
Not only does Mayer freshen up his instrumental pieces for the tour, his hilarious banter with the crowd is always memorable highlight for his fans. This time around, he brought up the arena seating chart saying “Some may say that the most hardcore fans are up at the front, but the people up there..well,they saw all of those tiny blue dots left at the back and said ‘yeah, I guess I’d still go to that’, so thank you! Blue dots of the outer ring’”. He then brought up the fact that there were very few bands that he himself would still go see if the seats were at the very top of the seating ring, thus it meant a lot to him that he was THAT artist to some people- it was an extremely honorable gesture to his most loyal fans in the back of the concert.
Before introducing his song ‘Clarity’, he share with the crowd a story about the time he was interviewed when the song first came out. The interviewer asked him: ‘Where do you see yourself in 10 years?’. Mayer responded that he never imagined that he would still be playing music, yet here he was 20 years later sharing his story and passion with the world! It’s little moments and tidbits like these that really make the night into an even more memorable and personal experience.
Despite being around for 20 years, Mayer has continually proven why he’s not only one of the world’s greatest guitarists, but a grateful person. His music is timeless and it is evident within his fanbase especially when you look around the venue. People of all ages were packed into Scotiabank Arena dawning and proudly displaying their Mayer merch while singing and dancing all through the entire set that night.
As the night came to a close, Mayer ended the evening with his hit ‘Gravity’, before playing ‘New Light’ as his encore.
John Mayer is currently on tour to support his eighth studio album Sob Rock which is available everywhere now.
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Be sure to check out Live Nation Ontario for all of the other great concerts that they will be bringing to Toronto this year.