John Mayer rocking at Merriweather
Thanks to my friend and fellow blogger Jenny from the Farm, I got my first taste of John Mayer last night at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.
The night started with a traffic backup as I tried to get into the Merriweather parking lot. Next came the people backup as we tried to get to the gates. Jenny even got bumped by a distracted driver, literally hit by a car! It all happened when we were staring at the underage, drunk teenagers getting citations from an undercover police officer. The girls were bawling, just feet away from big jug bottles of rum and vodka. Boo hoo!
We finally got inside the gates and dashed to our seats, hoping to outrun the rain that started falling. Little did we know that the rain would follow us to our seats. Yes, for $70, you too can get dripped on at Merriweather! The center seating is covered by wood, but the wings are covered by industrial tent-like tarps. And apparently Merriweather owners haven’t done any maintenance. When the torrential downpour started, the hole above my head just started dumping rain on me and my seat. Luckily, there was no one in the seat to my right, so I sat there and covered my actual seat with a raincoat and umbrella.
The actual concert was great fun. I always pictured John Mayer as a mellow rocker, especially after my friend caught him in concert a few years ago opening for the Rolling Stones. She called him the most boring concert singer ever!
Well, John must’ve turned over a new leaf. He couldn’t stop rocking out. Literally, he kept running to the front of the stage just to show off his gleaming guitar and to do the usual lead-singer-with-guitar moves. And it helped that he was wearing a tank top, just to show off all his tattoos.
John Mayer even talks about it in his blog, saying he got the chance to fulfill his rock band dreams at Merriweather when he turned over the microphone to his backup singer/guitarist David Ryan Harris to sing the Van Halen oldie, but goodie “Panama.” John took his shirt off just for the song and proceeded to show off his underlying rock star persona.
Here’s a video of “Panama” from that night… just listen to the crowd roar when he takes off his shirt.
And thanks to John’s baggy, low-riding pants and slipping underwear, I got to see more than I bargained for… a little of John’s patootie crack during the song. I gotta say it made up for the $70 dripping wet seats.
Seriously, it was a fun concert and made me rethink my notions of him and his music. I couldn’t stop saying, “He dated Jessica Simpson?”
I gotta say I’m a fan now! Thanks Jenny for the introduction to him and his music!
July 15, 2008 at 7:46 am
Yeah!! I’m so glad you are a fan now! It was a great show, even though we got a bit wet.
July 15, 2008 at 10:07 am
That was a great show and I’m glad you got to experience the other sides of John Mayer. He’s a lot more musically diverse than people give him credit for.
August 25, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I must say that I’ve had “Panama” in my head since the concert, and I’ve got to thank John Mayer for putting it there. Even a month later, I’ve got to say it was a good time!