On Friday night, John Mayer continued his ongoing arena tour with his first of two performances at L.A.’s The Forum this weekend.

Mayer kicked off the performance with “Belief”, “Love on the Weekend”, “Who Says”, “I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)”, and “In the Blood”. Runs through “Waiting On The World To Change”, “Covered in Rain”, the newly released “Carry Me Away”, and “Changing” were up next before Mayer closed out his first set with his go-to pairing of his own “Queen of California” and the Grateful Dead‘s “Fire on the Mountain”.

Following a brief intermission, Mayer and his band returned to the stage for their second set with “In Your Atmosphere”. “Your Body is a Wonderland” was up next, preceded by some amusing banter from Mayer that likened his “tumultuous” relationship with this early-career hit to a fraught relationship with a lover.

After writing the song in his early 20s and watching it become a global sensation, he began to resent it, leaving it on the shelf for years. However, as he concluded, about two years ago, he “ran into this song out there in the world and… it was lookin’ pretty good. It had worked out. Turned out that, over time, it maybe had morphed from being a silly, frat house kind of a song to representing some kind of innocence in my life that I’ll never get back again. Because let me tell you something, you have to be very innocent to write a song called ‘Your Body Is A Wonderland’. Because if you knew any more about the world, you would know that that song might go down in history as being a little silly. But I’m gonna sing it for you tonight without any silliness at all. I’m gonna sing it with its intended sincerity. Yes, it has the phrase ‘bubblegum tongue’ in it, but I’m even gonna sing that one from the heart. And I even know that you guys are gonna dance and sing along to it ever-so-slightly ironically, and that’s OK. ‘Cus that’s what you’re allowed to do with your past. You’re allowed to ironically celebrate your past. Gentlemen who love the guitar, hang tight. Hang tight for three-and-a-half minutes.”

You can watch Mayer regale the Forum crowd about his star-crossed relationship with “Your Body Is A Wonderland” below:

John Mayer – Banter, “Your Body Is A Wonderland” 

[Video: nice hubby]

Next, Mayer and company moved into his beautiful arrangement of Tom Petty‘s “Free Fallin'”. “Helpless”, “Edge of Desire”, and “Stop This Train” followed before the band moved into a “Clarity” featuring a musical nod to Toto‘s “Africa”. A “Slow Dancing In A Burning Room” infused with a David Ryan Harris interpolation of Prince‘s “Beautiful Ones” came next before Mayer moved into “Still Feel Like Your Man”, the hit single off his 2017 album, The Search For Everything. The band brought the set to a close from there with “The Age of Worry” (featuring a lead-in nod to Pete Townshend‘s “Let My Love Open the Door”), “Why Georgia”, and “Dear Marie”.

With time for a few more, Mayer and company returned to the stage for a three-song encore of “You’re Gonna Live Forever in Me” > “Gravity” and “New Light”.

John Mayer will be back at The Forum tonight, Saturday, September 14th, for his second of two L.A. shows. For a full list of Mayer’s upcoming tour dates, head to his website here.

Below, you can check out a selection of video from the show and peruse a gallery of photos courtesy of photographer Matthew Rea.

John Mayer – “Covered In Rain”

[Video: Gummy Visuals]

John Mayer – “Carry Me Away”

[Video: nice hubby]

John Mayer – “Fire on the Mountain” [Grateful Dead cover]

[Video: pacificcoast3]

Setlist: John Mayer | The Forum | Los Angeles, CA | 9/13/19

Set One: Belief, Love on the Weekend, Who Says, I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You), In the Blood, Waiting on the World to Change, Covered in Rain, Carry Me Away, Changing, Queen of California > Fire on the Mountain

Set Two: In Your Atmosphere, Your Body is a Wonderland, Free Fallin’, Helpless, Edge of Desire, Stop This Train, Clarity, Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, Still Feel Like Your Man, The Age of Worry, Why Georgia, Dear Marie

Encore: You’re Gonna Live Forever In Me > Gravity, New Light