John Mayer's Monday night show at Los Angeles' famed Viper Room was supposed to be a surprise, but his name on the marquee removed any air of mystery. Still, the singer-songwriter had some surprises in store for the capacity crowd.
Taking the stage a little after midnight, Mayer launched into a lengthy blues instrumental that showed off his considerable guitar chops. "I'm just gonna chill out and relax," he said from the stage.

A blues enthusiast, Mayer channeled the spirits of everybody from Albert King and Buddy Guy to Jimi Hendrix, playing both "Axis Bold as Love" and "The Wind Cries Mary." Doing his best Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mayer so impressed the crowd that ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, a guitarist who knows something about the blues, jumped on stage and shouted repeatedly, "Give it up for my boy!" This seemed to surprise even Mayer, who said, "I don't know what the hell is going on. Hello, Mr. Gibbons." But, as Mayer later pointed out, "This is a blues jam and that means there's no structure."

Near the end of the hour-plus set, vocalist David Ron Harris joined Mayer and released the guitarist's funky side during an extended jam of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Starting Something."

Mayer, who played until nearly 1:30 a.m., thanked the crowd for letting him indulge himself. "I know I have the best fans in the world," he said, "because they let me play whatever I want whenever I want."



STEVE BALTIN
(Posted Dec 07, 2004)

Would've loved to see that!

i just wet myself!

This man has got something I tell ya.. i dig what he's doin

Sdldawn said:

Not afraid to take chances, and he's damn good.

Gets a bad rap sometimes with people thinking he's just ripping off Dave Matthews or something.

subhuman09 said:

I used to listen to some live dave matthews.. i dont hear it at all..

Sdldawn said:

I hear similarities in their voices. Which is funny, because I enjoy some of Dave's stuff, while I cannot stand Mayer's voice. I have yet to hear anything by John Mayer that I can bear to listen to.

This sounds AWESOME!

I'll say it again- I burnt out on John Mayer, but I recognize his talent. I'm just waiting a few more years for him to grow a bit, and then I'll check out what he's doing. This show reaffirms my faith that we may get some amzing things out of John Mayer.

John Mayer is cool I wish I could have seen it too
I love that first album

I love his song "Clarity" oh yeah that is a breath of fresh air in music today

I would like 2 c him live.