Headliner: John Mayer
Opening Act: Maroon 5
Date: 07-06-04
Venue: Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO
Reviewer: Julie Wagoner

It’s been a couple years since I’ve desired to see an artist more than once. But, I couldn’t resist his wonderland, the place where all fantasies both on and off stage take place. John was set to play two nights at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO. The venue itself is heavenly. The entire venue is surrounded by gigantic red rocks (hence the name). And, if you were to look around during the show, the lights on the rocks appeared to be one of those breathtaking sights where you lose yourself in that moment. Not only was the appearance great, but the sound quality was superior to any other venue I’ve been to. The environment overall was only the beginning to a great evening.

Before I could get to that environment, I was faced with the worst part of the evening, parking. Since the venue is so high in elevation, you have to park way below and walk up. The way they handled the parking was very disorganized. Luckily, they had two small shuttles to bus some people up top. Because of the amount of people attending the show, it took forever to catch one of these shuttles so I was unable to make it to the top to see DJ Logic’s show and a small part of Maroon 5′s act as well.

When I made it to my seat, Maroon 5 was performing,”The Sun.” It was easy to see the crowd was feeding off their infectious energy. Their stage consisted of the band scattered around multi-colored blocks. When you’ve attended shows with huge sets, you’d almost feel as if this was a let down. But, it’s far from a let down. It’s much more rewarding to find that the band itself is what you’re talking about after the show rather than the theatrical aspects of the show. The energy they invested in their fans continued to build up until it hit two climaxes, both of their radio singles: “Harder to Breathe,” and, “This Love.” Fans responded positively by pushing back all that energy during those songs with intense dancing and singing along to the singles that have been stuck in our heads forever. In between these two songs, the guys premiered a new song that’s bound to be a hit with Maroon 5 lovers called “Woman.”

Then, the surprise of the evening arrived. Adam walked up to the front of the stage with a piece of paper to send a marriage proposal to an audience member from her boyfriend. After the audience cheered for newly engaged couple, the band devoted their latest romantic single, “She Will Be Loved,” to the lovebirds. They played another new song then led into their last song, “Shiver.” I was impressed with how this band was perceived. They’ve been a band for so long but act is if they have the energy of a newly formed band still trying to make it big. They did their job by exciting the fans for John but it won’t be long until they’re headlining all of their shows from here on out. At the end of the show, Adam headed up stage to imitate a Irish jig. He must be celebrating the band’s discovery of a pot of golden, everlasting success.

Once they left, the crew began to strike. Several flats arrived on stage decorated with artwork of branches with red blossoms on them with four carpets placed in front of them. Anticipation began as the lights flickered on and off. Finally, a set of blue lights appeared with John casually walking up to the mic. The first song performed was “Clarity.” He loved the audience’s response to his last single so why not lead into one of the first singles, “No Such Thing,” for fans to, “Scream at the top of their lungs.” To cool off, John thanked everyone for coming, especially on a week where most were on vacation, then declared his desire to build up some groove. He began to play,”Something’s Missing,” then diverted from the song to get into that promised groove. He returned to finish the song before seducing the girls with his sexy, “Please forgive me,” song of the night, “Come Back to Bed.”

As he prepared for a guitar solo, he asked the crowd to see how quiet Red Rocks could get. He went into his guitar playing with girls still screaming their love for him but soon the entire venue went silent to appreciate the solo. After our guitar appreciation lesson, it was time for a music competition between the saxophone and the guitar. They jazzed it up all the way to “Your Body is a Wonderland.”

Once the groove was over, John became more serious by discussing politics. Instead of supporting a certain nominee, he suggested that we all go out to vote and for us to shut up and do it. He then performed, “Inner City Blues,” in honor of Marvin Gaye, who once had great beliefs for the world. Following that, he played, “New Deep.” Then, as expected, he went into a joke about how much he enjoyed the Denver area because of how he could cook more brownies with one egg due to the fact that cooking requirements change in higher altitude. All laughs aside, he introduced the next song, “Covered in Rain,” as one off the live album. Returning back to the songs off the LPs, he played, “Daughters,” before playing one of the highlight songs of the evening, “Bigger than My Body,” in which the entire audience was up shouting along with the inspiring lyrics.

Throughout the show, he continued to thank us for coming out and supporting him. Announcing it as a new/old song that we made great, John played his last song, “Why Georgia?” before leaving the stage to prepare for the encore. When he returned, he introduced us to his acoustic set with the audience to choose the songs played. Luckily, the audience had good taste that night as they selected, “3×5,” “Quiet,” and “Neon.” He surprised the audience with a few chords of the I Dream of Jeanie TV Theme before calling it a night.

So, was it worth seeing John Mayer twice within 6 months? Yes. In fact, life seems better when there’s a guy to entertain, seduce, motivate, and relate to all in one night. I know he’ll always be in my CD player to do that for me every night.

• «Previous Post
• Next Post »

---