John Mayer Trio
By Patrick Thompson
Music careers are considered successful when albums hit platinum numbers and tours profit from not only from ticket sales but also merchandise. John Mayer has been considered successful, not only by selling albums and sold out concerts, but also winning awards, like Grammy's. While he is an excellent songwriter and mainstream artist, his latest venture, however, is one that strays from the path and is the total opposite of what most search for in a career. Rather than play sellout crowds in colossal venues, he has opted to entertain a smaller group of people, all contained into an intimate setting, music of course being the number one goal.
The set opened with the new single from the band called "Who Did You Thing I Was?" a bluesy pop song worthy of being called a "Hendrix Rip-off". When most listen to Hendrix their selection is normally dwarfed to two CDs, the first is the wildly popular Experience and the other would be Electric Ladyland. Many however do not know about his more influential music that is restricted to just 12 songs on "Axis: Bold as Love", where this track by the John Mayer Trio could easily fit anywhere on the CD. The song is the first single from the newly formed group, written by John Mayer. The song basically tells his fans you have no idea who I even am. "Am I the one who plays the quiet songs? Is he the one that turns the ladies on?" is the start of the second verse which states what most people think he is, which he is obviously not. All of his new songs deal with new tragedies that happen to people later in life, not teenagers like his original songs.
"Vultures" is next in line on the set list, where Mayer plays both rhythm and lead guitar and sings about "the world keep testing me...". The appropriately titled song is a show of the saying "eat or be eaten." Perhaps one of his best written songs, "Vultures" starts out with the line "Some of us, we're hardly even here. The rest of us, we're born to disappear. How do I stop myself from being just a number?"
This shows the basic idea musicians have about needing to make it big as a star. What exactly are you willing to do to make it and live out your goal? Or are you too weak and will just disappear into the numbers like most?
"Guitar, bass, and drums. Three guys, nowhere to hide. When it works...." That is the liner notes of their latest album "Try."
An album full of blues and little pop, straying from the norm is an understatement about this endeavor. Will it work? I believe it has, and it was what listeners needed.
John Mayer Trio has a new vibe that many could not pull off. The crowd at the concert was much more matured than your average John Mayer concert due to the fact that there is now an age limit at some of the venues. The John Mayer Trio project, I feel, was a total success as their new music is reaching broader and broader audiences and their stage presence is becoming greater, with longer solos, and many random jam songs that appear from nothing but a key. I was very happy with the show as it almost felt at times that I was at a Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan concert due to Mayer's infatuation of both. He plays some of each of their songs along with his. John Mayer Trio has found a new sound that will show listeners an old style of rock.