Gig review: John Mayer treats fans to hits and Taylor Swift tune at solo show in 3Arena, Dublin
A recent picture of John Mayer on his solo tour which reached the 3Arena in Dublin, on Friday. Picture: Danny Clinch
★★★★☆
A couple of songs into John Mayer’s set on Friday night in the 3Arena, in a moment of rare, relative hush, someone shouts ‘Last Train Home’.
Mayer has just picked up the guitar for his next song but he pauses. “I like that request,” he says. “Can I have the 12 string?”.
It’s a sign of what’s to come for the night ahead. It’s the final night of the 46-year-old's solo acoustic tour, which he's brought across the US, Europe and Japan.
“I began my career on stage with only a guitar and a microphone,” he wrote when announcing the shows on his Instagram. “A lot has changed since then, but I knew one day I’d feel it in my heart to do an entire run of shows on my own again."
Indeed, in the intervening years, a lot has changed. The Connecticut-born musician started off in much the same way as Ed Sheeran. A man and his guitar, writing love songs. His first gig in Ireland was a solo affair in Whelan’s in 2003. It would be 16 years before he’d stop off here again, this time in 2019 with a full band and an entirely different sound.
Over the years, he’s moved away from acoustic, drifting into blues and rock, sharing a stage with accomplished musicians like Eric Clapton and BB King, swapping his baggy jeans for suits and leather. At the height of his fame, he picked up Grammys for his best-known release, , and was romantically linked to everyone from Jennifer Aniston to Katy Perry and Taylor Swift (the latter was just 19 when she met the then 32-year-old, and had some choice words to say about him on the near seven-minute 'Dear John').
So, a lot has changed. But tonight, in a pair of chinos and denim shirt, he seems entirely at ease alone on stage interacting with a fully sold-out 13,000-capacity amphitheatre, playing a mix of hits, fan favourites and deep cuts from his eight studio albums.
He plays older favourites like 'In Repair' and 'Neon', having fun with a near two-minute riff on the latter that proves to be a highlight of the night. Someone requests 'Vultures,' a song usually played on an electric guitar that shines with a full band. But Mayer gives it a go on the acoustic he currently has in his hand, forgetting the words at one point and inviting the crowd to sing.
Another request comes from the front row with a very big sign they have been throwing up all night. It's for 'Paper Doll', a song rumoured to be a response to Taylor Swift's 'Dear John' ballad, and one he rarely plays live.
"Sometimes I ignore requests I really don't want to play," he says, "But I have to appreciate the sign." He gives us one verse and a chorus before moving on, seeming the most uncomfortable he's been all night as he sings, "Was it just too far to fall / for a little paper doll?".
Throughout the night, he moves seamlessly from one instrument to the next, picking up an electric banjo, a double-neck guitar, a harmonica. At one stage he sits at the grand piano switching from its keys to an electric guitar to deliver 'Changing.'
Despite the randomness of the setlist, the crowd knows almost every word, and we sing along in earnest, the night culminating in Mayer delivering a cover of Tom Petty's 'Free Fallin', and the crowd, a standing ovation.
"Dublin, thank you," he smiles. "I love you so much. Be well. Take care of yourselves. I'll see you soon."
His next shows are at the Sphere in Las Vegas, where he’ll play four nights with Dead & Company, moving in after U2 wrap up their residency. For fans lucky enough to secure a ticket to Friday night's show, it felt like a rare intimate gig with Mayer before he returns to much bigger things.
