John Mayer

Ok, don't lie, you know you love "No Such Thing." And you know all the words.
I wanna run through the halls of my high school I wanna scream at the top of my lungs I just found out theres no such thing as the real world Just a lie youve got to rise above
I mean, come on, that song CAME OUT when I was in high school. Hearing it last night when I saw John Mayer in Madison Square Garden with 7 of my friends, no lie, made me a little teary. Slash made me smile and laugh when I realized how true (if cheesy) the lyrics are.
"Your Body is a Wonderland" kind of makes me want to vomit in my mouth, but ladies, you KNOW you would melt if that was written about you. Come on now.
I mean, all personal attributes aside, John Mayer is a damn talented musician. Now that he has finally gotten away from that pop crap and gone back to his jazz roots, it's just phenomenal to hear him play. And yes, I've heard him twice in concert before, and they paled in comparison to last night. Seriously though, he was so "on" last night, and it was just such a pleasure to hear him play really quality music.
And I had been meaning to blog on this when the CD came out, but Continuum is a pretty weighty CD, if you listen to the lyrics. He really wrestles with some of the bigger questions facing twenty-somethings and our generation in general.
I think probably the best example of this is "Waiting on the World to Change"
Me and all my friends We're all misunderstood They say we stand for nothing There's no way we ever could Now we see everything is going wrong With the world and those who lead it We just feel like we don't have the means To rise above and beat it So we keep waiting Waiting on the world to change Now if we had the power To bring our neighbors home from war They would've never missed a Christmas No more ribbons on their door When you trust your television What you get is what you got Cuz when they own the information, They can bend it all they want

Some other good lines from songs I think really speak to me at this time in my life...
Stop this train I wanna get off and go home again I can't take the speed it's movin' in I know I can't But honestly won't someone stop this train

From "I Don't Trust Myself," which he basically said last night is an admission of being a big jerk and flat out telling the girl that he's an ass.
Hold on to whatever you find baby Hold on to whatever will get you through Hold on to whatever you find baby I don't trust myself with loving you
Who do you love, me, or the thought of me?
Chew on that last line- kind of makes ME uncomfortable to think about honestly.

But, I think ultimately for me, and "my generation" he sings of a hope and a belief that ultimately it will be ok.
Pain throws your heart to the ground Love turns the whole thing around Fear is a friend who's misunderstood But I know the heart of life is good
I know it's good

He closed with "Gravity" which is aaaaawesome. And it was serious icing when Alicia Keys came out for a guest appearance in that last song. Um, what?? But what I love most is that everyone I was with thought it was Jessica Simpson. HA! Ok, so there were NO jumbotrons of any sort, so perhaps an honest mistake, but COME ON. Dude, I was so excited to see Alicia, it just made an awesome night even more amazing.
Oh, and lest I forget, Mat Kearney opened up the show. Check out his myspace page to hear some of his music, he's really excellent, and you may know his song "Nothing Left to Lose." He is the epitome of the type of musician I enjoy hearing live- an attractive twenty-something male with a smooth voice, acoustic guitar, heavily featured piano, and yea, basically great.
*sigh*

Good times.