John Mayer rocks St. Louis

By Jess Camp

Published Sept. 12, 2006

ST. LOUIS — A very vivid image pops into my mind when I imagine a John Mayer concert. I envision tons of loud teenage girls screaming obnoxiously at the top of their lungs. Of course, I ended up being one of those girls — I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Sunday night I seized the opportunity to see John Mayer live at the UMB Bank Pavilion in St. Louis. I was shocked that the age range of John's fans varied so much. There were tons of middle-age women and men in the venue, the occasional pre-teens accompanied by a parent and many college students. I was completely wrong, in a good way, about the types of people that would come out for Mr. Mayer.

The opening act for the concert was Mat Kearney, a band reminiscent of Coldplay. I've never been a huge fan of Coldplay, but I did love Mat Kearney. Everyone must rush out to the Brady Commons Bookstore, or Limewire, and pick up a copy of the band's new album, Nothing Left to Lose.

After Kearney left the stage, I assumed Sheryl Crow would be the next performer to take the mic. After 30 excruciatingly long minutes of set change, a man appeared out of the shadows. It was John Mayer, and I went insane with joy.

In my mind, Mayer is a better singer than Crow is, so I assumed he would play after Crow. I then remembered that Crow is from St. Louis, which probably explains why she played last. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised by Mayer's appearance on stage.

Mayer opened with one of my favorites, "Why Georgia," from his first album. Some of the more popular songs he played were "Daughters," "Clarity," "Good Love is on The Way" and "Bigger Than My Body." He also played four songs off of his new album, the most popular being "Waiting on the World to Change." Many fans were surprised that he chose not to play his most well-known song, "Your Body is a Wonderland."

Mayer's act was terrific overall. He even managed to sing well while making those crazy faces that he's known for — those expressions that make him seem like he's either having an orgasm or is in great pain.

He didn't really do much dancing on the stage; he only rocked around a bit. But to make up for his lack of exciting dance moves, he played the guitar with a great amount of skill, moving his fingers like a true maestro. His fingers stroked and plucked those guitar strings so quickly I was sure his fingers were going to fly off at any moment. Although creepy, I would have fought to catch one.

He even managed to keep the audience entertained by making fun of some of the crowd members. After his opening song, he threw his pick to a girl in the front row, but she was too busy cheering for him to pay attention, and the pick ended up hitting her in the forehead. He then mimicked the event, which cracked me up. Despite the public mockery, that girl might be the luckiest girl in the world.

There were a few things I did not like about my concert experience, though. First of all, I had lawn seating, and the people behind me were encroaching into my space. They put their feet on my blanket and made it muddy. They also danced next to me at times and blew their cigarette smoke into my face. What made me laugh, though, was that they were in their '40s — at least. This lady even took the poster that I made and held it up as if it were her own. It said "John, your body is my wonderland," I am sure that Mayer would rather I hold it than her.

Other than those minor glitches, the concert was a booming success. I'll be there the next time Mayer decides to come back, once again holding a clever handmade poster.