{"id":47494,"date":"2007-06-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/features\/john-mayer-rocks-the-bowl\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T11:57:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:57:56","slug":"john-mayer-rocks-the-bowl","status":"publish","type":"feature","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/features\/john-mayer-rocks-the-bowl\/","title":{"rendered":"John Mayer Rocks The Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
Who knew that John Mayer would ever have street cred? <\/p>\n

Or that lovably nerdy opening act Ben Folds would ever jump up onto his piano in the middle of his set and shake his ass before launching into his hilariously uncharacteristic cover of Dr. Dre\u2019s \u201cBitches Ain\u2019t Shit?\u201d Along with a fantastic rendition of Whatever and Ever Amen\u2019s <\/i>quietly gorgeous \u201cBrick\u201d and Folds pausing before his next song to inform the audience, kindergarten teacher-style, about what a synthesizer is (as well as noting that at a certain decibel, it would make you \u201cshart\u201d), his Elton John-esque jangling piano-pop intro was enjoyable the whole way through, and actually managed to make us all put down our catered dinners (got to love the Hollywood Bowl!) and pay attention.<\/p>\n

But back to Mayer, whose latest album, last year\u2019s Continuum, <\/i>was <\/i>basically resoundingly gushed over here at the Vault, and for good reason. The best thing is, he\u2019s better live, his smooth blues jams given the chance to linger and unfold. Featuring a seven-man outfit including a saxophonist and two horn-players lent the show an organic, experimental feel, making it more than just a by-the-books recitation of Mayer\u2019s back catalog. <\/p>\n

Even material from his earlier days of radio-friendly folk-pop such as his first hit, \u201cNo Such Thing\u201d and \u201cWhy Georgia\u201d off 2003\u2019 Room for Squares <\/i>have had new life breathed into them, courtesy of beefed up guitars and Mayer\u2019s matured voice, crisper and more powerful than in his emerging days as a teen idol. Along those lines, I would\u2019ve loved to hear recent set-staple \u201cYour Body Is A Wonderland\u201d if only to hear how the new and improved Mayer manages to strip the saccharine track of its cloyingness.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"johnmayerlive_325\"
John Mayer Bowls ’em over June 9
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0(Photo: Kelly A. Swift, Orange Co. Register)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The best stuff on the setlist, though, is without a doubt, his new material: slow-burning \u201cGravity\u201d is a velvety stunner and \u201cSlow Dancing in a Burning Room,\u201d delivered in his three-song, acoustic encore, is nothing short of heart-wrenching, while Mayer\u2019s ad-libbing during \u201cI\u2019m Gonna Find Another You\u201d was un-selfconsciously hilarious (he drifted off during the chorus to declare he might just continue to drink and build a time machine instead.) And breaking up a string of Continuum<\/i> tracks was a gritty cover of \u201cI Don\u2019t Need No Doctor,\u201d complete with extended bluesy solos. <\/p>\n

Most refreshing is the fact that even amid his striking success, Mayer has remained sweetly humble; he paused between nearly every track to thank the fans for sticking with him or to express his longstanding love for Los Angeles, deeming it his number one. The feeling is most definitely mutual. Mayer is a class act. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles, CA; June 9, 2007<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":50924,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"feature_type":[32],"class_list":["post-47494","feature","type-feature","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","feature_type-feature"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature\/47494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/feature"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"feature_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature_type?post=47494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}