first night of john mayer tour 6/1

I'm a Mayer fan who's looking forward to seeing Folds in Pelham, AL this August. Everything I've heard from Folds I've dug, and will be singing along as best I can. The fearlessness that comes with covering "Bitches Ain't Shit" is what made me notice the guy, and although I enjoy the Five more, his other stuff is growing on me. I watched the MySpace Secret Show on YouTube and I'm really excited.

Yea, Mayer has a huge draw of people that suck and are embarassed to participate when asked to, but he's also got a large core group of people like you guys who have been around since the beginning and aren't retarded.

In defense of the "I'm the only one worth taping comment," it went something like this:

Guitar World: You're one of the few major label acts who allows taping at your shows.

Mayer: I know this is going to sound bad, but I think I'm one of the few major label artists that you would WANT to tape.

That statement was made while he was on tour with the Trio, whose show is more likely to have improvised parts than say a Black Eyed Peas or Britney Spears concert.


This may be a horrible first post, but I finally found something I could contribute to, haha.

Ah, thanks for clarifying. I still think that quote from Mayer is a little stupid, because how big of an ego do you have to have to think that? Eh, no worries. Welcome to board! Glad to hear you're not like those other idiots at the show I went to, and that you actually respect Ben.

i can't agree more. most of the crowd was terrible. bunch of teenage girls and teeny boppers with their parents. i felt really bad for ben, though he didn't miss a beat. mayer was awful, only made it through 2 songs before i had to leave because i couldn't stand it. the thing that sucks is that portland is a great city for ben (ridgefield, wa is just north of portland, or). i hope he comes back solo. i hope he survives this tour.

the newspaper, The Oregonian, was not nice to our idol.

they said, "While Mayer was almost relentlessly earnest, opener Ben Folds bordered on the flip. A singer and pianist whose best known song, about abortion, is "Brick," Folds exposed his true colors with the highlight of his set: a cover of a Dr. Dre song in which the first and last words of the three-word title are unquotable in a family newspaper (the middle word, for the curious, is "ain't"), laid against a tongue-way-in-cheek sensitive piano (backed by his bandmates on drums and bass). Think Alanis Morissette's send-up of "My Humps," but with more potty mouth.

Folds was manic onstage, like a little kid banging alone on a grand piano, and might have balanced his set better if he'd added some of his more serious songs. One apparently unplanned addition to the set list was an impromptu song thanking John Mayer for bringing in fans who don't feel the compulsion to eat corn dogs during the opening act. It was odd and a little sweet, and Mayer himself returned the favor during his set, singing his own thanks to Folds and playing a few bars of Folds' song "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces." The song is not, to put it mildly, a heart-rending opus about the human condition. It was not only one of the lighter moments of Mayer's set, but it was also a classy gesture."

that made me giggle.

yeah, portland is way better for ben. when he played at the roseland in 05, it was the perfect venue for him. maybe a little smaller than he's used to, but it was an incredible experience. this place was just not for him.

i left before mayer, so i cant tell you how he was, but i'm guessing nothing really special.

tomorrow night in San Jose! The bay Area loves him, so i hope there are some fans there. Mayer is a little sleepy. Curious to see how that show traslates in a 20,000 seat arena.

Really. I would love it, if Ben and Mayer did something together.

Like. I dunno what, but, that'd make me happy. I'm not even a Mayer fan, but it would make the ticket seem more worthwhile.

I just got back from the San Jose concert, and the original post seems pretty much on-par for what happened here. When he got up and did his "All the children sing" bit that he does from time to time, there was silence through the stadium. He made up for it with some cool stuff, including an impromptu blues rendition of "Your Cheatin' Heart".

We left as soon as his set was over, since neither of us had any interest in seeing Mayer and his fans clinched our desire to not be there.

All in all very cool, but it would have been nice if the fans had actually cared and if he'd had more time.

If I went to one of these shows, I would stay for Mayer, just to get my money's worth. Also, I find support acts generally easier to meet after shows, as most of the people there are there for the main band.

i tried to go meet ben after his set and before mayer's, and a guy from the opening band (rocco deluca and the burden, who was very nice and sweet i might add) said they'd already left to beat traffic or something.

Hum. Interesting. I see both sides. Because if I'm paying to see Mayer, I might as well...... but. I kinda wanna take my partner in crime to meet Ben, if possible. And if they're leaving early. Hum. I'll have to discuss this/maybe leave Jared or Sam a message asking what they might be doing whilst in Kansas.

I Paid My Money!  and i'm gonna see all of the... concert!

Exactly. As I've mentioned about 100 times, when I saw Roman Candle, they were the first band on, but I stayed for both of the other bands. The other day at Sparklehorse, a bunch of people LEFT after the opening act. It didn't really bother me or anything, but I just thought they'd wasted a fair bit of money...

you know, i have that issue of guitar player as well, and he also made a point to say "don't spend 600 bucks on a sampler, spend it on a guitar, and you'll have a song one night and be getting laid the next"

can you say assh*le?

That was in reference to how technology can sap a lot of the creative energy out of trying to write a song. The idea was that people can sometimes get lost in all of the drum loops and guitar sounds recording software can offer, and never finish their song. It's oftentimes better to have the song done before you start screwing around with ProTools.

But I totally understand it if you don't want to like him. I shouldn't be over here trying to defend someone that people seem to have already made up their mind about. I'm just gonna stay off here until my B'ham show.