PHOTOS BY JASON RIEDMILLER
SCRANTON — It’s rare that a performer can inspire both ecstatic screams by hordes of teenage girls and quiet reverence from mature music fans. It takes a certain type of charisma and broad appeal, as well as a certain type of virtuosity, and John Mayer oozed all of that Saturday night during a note-perfect, musically serious performance that stood in contrast to the wild, unhinged reaction of the mostly female crowd of about 10,000 at Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain. If not for the music, you would have thought Justin Bieber, not an uber-gifted guitarist and songwriter, was in town.
Mayer is known for being a self-aware celebrity — maybe a bit too self-aware — and the ability to understand himself, and what his audience wants from him, might have helped him craft the 2-hour set, which gave him ample room to flex his blues-rock guitar chops, wit and knack for making the ladies swoon, as well as a gratefulness he directed to the fans, his powerhouse band and the opening act Train. (He called sharing the stage with Train “quite an honor,” recalling an earlier part of his career when he covered Train at bar gigs. Now, Mayer is a star that eclipses even the radio darlings that open for him.)
Mayer opened the show with a sense of drama, playing solo electric guitar before his band joined. Clad in a tank top, white pants and headband, he slowly built the song, playing just enough notes, before slamming into “Vultures.” Like much of Mayer’s music, the song recalls the more poppy side of Eric Clapton from the 1980s. The extended length of the song, with a well-executed drum-and-sax segment, did nothing to sap the energy of the rapt crowd, who roared with approval at the end of the tune.
Up next was the subdued jazz rock of “Clarity,” a smoky, slinky number from 2003’s “Heavier Things.” Mayer, as he did all night, expertly controlled his voice and playing. As his band played out the blissful climax, he leapt up and down.
“No Such Thing,” the first hit of Mayer’s career, was an early-set surprise, preceding a deep-space reggae exploration of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Riding an insistent bass line, Mayer broke the song down with some trilled rhythm guitar, before easing into a solo, ratcheting up the intensity until he eviscerated the melody to shreds with his masterful playing. Then he brought it back home to its reggae framework, tossing in a verse of The Police’s “Wrapped Around Your Finger.”
Mayer channeled his hero Stevie Ray Vaughan on the slow burner “Gravity,” letting the audience sing the second verse. Another hit, “Waiting For The World To Change,” bopped with pop energy and had a greater sense of urgency than it does on the album. During “Who Says,” from his latest album “Battle Studies,” Mayer sang quietly about “a long night in New York City”; “Oh my God, you’re so cute!” a girl screamed.
Mayer put his dry sense of humor, as well as a desire to please people, to good use after a chanting crowd demanded he play Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’.”
“We’re a democracy, and the people have spoken,” he said. “I was gonna play a song about my great-great grandmother who just died. … It was pretty gruesome. But that’s OK, let’s play a Tom Petty song.” And he did. “It’s a long day, working at Dunder Mifflin,” he sang, shouting out the fictional workplace on “The Office.” He added a bit of Mr. Big’s “To Be With You” at the end.
After a funny rant about text messages from former lovers, Mayer led his band into “Heartbreak Warfare” and “Half Of My Heart,” the end of the show before encores of “Do You Know Me” and “Edge Of Desire.”
Earlier, Mayer said the bill with Train “is a package deal, as far as I’m concerned,” and Train did indeed play a set more in line with a co-headliner than a support band. All eyes were locked on diminutive frontman Patrick Monahan, who made sweeping gestures, stood on one foot and shared an easygoing demeanor with his fans. “Meet Virginia” was triumphant; he brought some young women on stage to dance and sing to “She’s All Mine”; and the band ended strong with a series of songs including the hits “Calling All Angels,” “Hey, Soul Sister” and “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me).”
Train is middle-of-the road radio pop, but it’s well-written and well-played, and the audience loved every minute of it. Combined with Mayer’s more ambitious set, it stood to prove that just because something is popular doesn’t mean it’s without artistic merit — even with squealing girls providing the backing track.
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