John Mayer

Mayer offers masterful guitar work — and hits — at SPAC

BY DAVID SINGER For The Daily Gazette

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Under a clear, star-filled sky and chilled air that forced long pants and jackets, signaling the final days of summer at the Saratoga Performance Arts Center, John Mayer sang his hits for the 8,000-plus who came to hear him, and laid equally hard into his blues guitar through every song.

Singer Ryan Tedder of the opening act called Mayer, half-joking, a “sexy animal,” and the tabloids this week called him a “part-time guitarist and full-time raconteur.” The tabloids are dead wrong about Mayer’s playing. Mayer is a talented blues player who takes his guitar seriously on stage.

During the medium-tempo “I Don’t Trust Myself,” he stepped to the edge of the stage and lit into his guitar with far more taste than dazzle, though he could easily do the latter for show. He played a totally muddy, unattractive “Crossroads” that would’ve scored in a dive bar 30 years ago. And it scored at SPAC just as well for his fawning, female audience.

During a traditional slow-blues, Mayer played his hardest. This may be the spot he picks to light up for every show. Regardless, it worked, and probably works every time he goes for it.

Fortunately for the majority of ticket-holders, he crooned his hits too. He covered Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” with his acoustic, prompting full-grown women to scream like heart-broken tweenagers during the more pointed lines, like “I’m a bad boy.”

Screeches similar to a Jonas Brothers concert filled the place when he broke into “Waiting on the World to Change.” This bounced nicely with his sharp band.

Mayor, who wore a long-sleeved shirt and baggy jeans, travels with little more than band equipment. There’s no elaborate set, no band uniforms, only the stripped down songs.

He spoke occasionally, mumbling about the value of seeing live music, other times as a wise guy, once threatening to “strip.” He might have smiled Monday night, but I didn’t see it.

He packed every song with energy and kept the amphitheater on its feet. The crowd chanted through all of “Why Georgia,” to the point where he let them take a chorus. Other notable tunes included “Down to the Wire” and “Stitched Up.”

He might be another pretty face to some, and you can try not to like him, like many do, but live in concert he’ll win every time. If you saw nothing but “Gravity” Monday night, you’d make it your business to see him next time around.

OneRepublic opened the show, a young band from Colorado now working out of Los Angeles with a Coldplay formula that delivers smooth, emotion-saturated radiofriendly rock. They’re a good band and are on the map largely because of their front man, Ryan Tedder, a strong singer with a sincere delivery who communicated rather than shouted at the audience. They sang familiar tunes, including “Stop and Stare,” and unreleased ones like “All Fall Down.” They surprised with the ’60s political Stephen Still’s tune “For What It’s Worth,” which they did funny things to, but definitely an “A” for effort. Overall, a good warm up for the main act.