John Mayer on Sunday made his way to Los Angeles, CA for his first of three shows at The Forum.
The Inglewood opener marked the second show back on track for the Sob Rock tour after Mayer and several other members of the touring party tested positive for COVID-19 in late February. The outbreak forced Mayer to postpone shows in Pittsburgh, Long Island, and Boston to early May.
After healing up and re-launching the tour in Las Vegas on Friday, Mayer and his group served the L.A. crowd a new take on the Sob Rock dish, combining the full-band fervor of the tour’s earlier dates with the COVID-necessitated acoustic approach he employed for two unusual shows when the first wave of band members went down last month
Related: John Mayer Announces Departure From Columbia Records After 21 Years
The show began in full form with “Last Train Home”, “Belief”, “Wild Blue”, “Who Says”, “I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)”, and “I Guess I Just Feel Like” before John Mayer shifted to his acoustic guitar for deceptively intimate arena readings of “Walt Grace’s Submarine Test, January 1967”, “Neon”, and his stunning arrangement of Tom Petty‘s “Free Fallin'”.
John Mayer – “Walt Grace’s Submarine Test, January 1976” – 3/13/22
John Mayer – “Neon” – 3/13/22
[Video: Gummy Visuals]
Following the acoustic interlude, the band members took their places once again to finish out the show as a unit with a mix of old (“Your Body Is A Wonderland”, “Slow Dancing In A Burning Room”, “Gravity”, “Edge of Desire”), new (“Shot in the Dark”, “Shouldn’t Matter But It Does”, “Til The Right One Comes”), and tried and true (David Ryan Harris‘ “The Beautiful Ones” interlude never ceases to amaze).
John Mayer – “Slow Dancing In A Burning Room” – 3/13/22
[Video: Gummy Visuals]
For the encore, Mayer and company offered up “Waiting on the World to Change”—which has quickly become a highlight on this tour thanks to the soulful stylings of bassist Pino Palladino and guitarist Isaiah Sharkey—and “New Light”, continuing the subtle shifts in placement of the tour’s go-to songs.
John Mayer returns to The Forum on Tuesday, March 15th for night two of three. For a full list of upcoming tour dates, head here. Check out a gallery of photos from the Sunday night John Mayer show at The Forum below courtesy of Matthew Rea.
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Setlist: John Mayer | The Forum | Inglewood, CA | 3/13/22
Set: Last Train Home, Belief, Wild Blue, Who Says, I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You), I Guess I Just Feel Like, Walt Grace’s Submarine Test, 1976^, Neon^, Free Fallin^, Shot in the Dark, Your Body Is a Wonderland, Still Feel Like Your Man, Edge of Desire, Shouldn’t Matter But It Does, The Beautiful Ones (Prince) Interlude*, Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, Til the Right One Comes%, Gravity
Encore: Waiting on the World to Change, New Light
^acoustic
*sung by David Ryan Harris
%with “You Can Call Me Al” (Paul Simon) interlude
