John Mayer Battle Studies Summer Tour 2010

I'll say it, this was the best display of pop/rock/blues music I've ever seen. John Mayer isn't my favorite artist. He probably falls somewhere after Counting Crows, Ben Folds, Jason Mraz, and Jack Johnson. So he's up there, but not at the top. After last night, I can say that nobody else I've seen has been better in concert. Every musician on that stage was incredible!

Before I get to John, we'll start with Train. A little after 7 pm and out comes Pat Monahan and the guys. They open up with "Parachute" from the new CD. Not many people were around at this point, but more came as they played "Meet Virginia" and recent radio hit "If It's Love". Lost in the night of Mayer brilliance were Monahan's vocals. He is an incredible singer! He proved it as they rattled through "Calling All Angels", "When I Look to the Sky", "Hey, Soul Sister", and "Drops of Jupiter". It's really too bad that a great band like Train had to play the role of opener, they are really entertaining! Pat even walked through the audience as they played an acoustic song. After one hour, they had to go.

Then at 8:45, the main event began. John and the band walk out and start a groove with "Chest Fever" into "Vultures". By this time, it's already been established that every song is going to be an event with epic guitar riffs and solo work by John and his crew. Epic isn't a good enough word to describe what happened. From there he went into hits like "No Such Thing" and "Heartbreak Warfare". Then JM threw a curveball with a reggae version of "Ain't No Sunshine" and a ridiculous solo! Following that was a 10 minute version of "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room". After a few others, he played the crowd favorite "Gravity". I think it was here where he jammed with a guy playing the soprano sax. There would be great sections of nothing but instrumental grooving and jamming, it was truly an amazing moment seeing John and his sax player standing side by side trying to match each other with notes and rhythms!!

The crowd then erupts when "Waiting on the World to Change" is next, including hilarious 2nd verse lyrics that mocked the BP oil spill. John changes lyrics from time to time, but it's not as great as his storytelling. He told some good stories, you had to be there for those. The last song of the normal set was "Half of My Heart" which morphed into "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac and then "Don't Stop Believing". The encore started with his great cover of "Free Fallin" and then ended with "Edge of Desire".

For those of you who've seen him in concert before, you know he's an incredibly talented musician and guitar player. His music was really taken to a new level that you don't hear on the CDs or on the radio. This was an incredible night of music. If you get the chance, you need to check this tour out. The fact that I was on the lawn with friends and not in the seats was the only thing keeping this from being one of the best nights ever. Then again, I don't know if I could've handled the amazing talent of the band from any closer!

New Instrument!

So I took a trip to the Ann Arbor Art Fair, not to really buy art, but to look around with my uncle and see what was going on at the fair this year. What I ended up getting was this box drum. I found a booth where a couple from New Mexico had about 20 box drums in different shapes and sizes sitting on tables. I had to check it out. After an hour or so of trying out different ones, I decided on this one because of the pitch. I really like how it sounds and I think it'll be a great addition to Soloists songs!

Goo Goo Dolls in their hometown of Buffalo!

So it seems like Pat is taking over the blog... He's also beating me out on concerts for the summer. I'm trying to pick up my game here. The last two nights I saw two pretty good shows. I saw G Love at Thursday in the Square in Buffalo, right after Pat saw him with Jack Johnson. Thursday in the Square is a free concert every Thursday in the middle of downtown Buffalo. I saw Ingrid Michaelson earlier in the summer at one of these too. G Love was pretty good, though he's not one of my favorite artists. He didn't play Rodeo Clowns so I was a little disappointed, but it was entertaining nonetheless.


I've see GGD a couple times before and they always put on a good show, but I was pretty pumped to see them in their home town! After tailgating for 4 hours with some friends, we headed to our lawn seats (which were a little too far to actually see the band) and watched Switchfoot open for them. GGD played all the hits we wanted and some of their new tracks. We also suffered through a few Robbie Takac songs... They didn't really do anything special for Buffalo so I was a little disappointed again. Overall it was a very fun experience with some fun people and I got to watch a canopy fly over my car... soooo I'm looking forward to the next couple concerts on my summer tour.

till next time,
evb

Jack Johnson To The Sea 2010 Tour!

Before I get to the concert, there's a story behind this one. The majority of concerts that Eric and I attended over the past few years were with pretty good seats purchased well in advance. This time I purchased this ticket (for row h!) exactly 5 minutes before Jack took the stage! After not finding anyone to go with, I decided at about 6:50 pm (10 minutes before the opener started) to get to this show as fast as possible, I just couldn't miss Jack in Michigan again! Especially after the great new CD. So I'm going along fine until 8 pm hits and I get stuck in the wall of DTE traffic. Long story short, I just made it to my seat and 2 minutes later the lights went down. Jack walked out and told us that we didn't need to stand up. With that, he jumped into "You and Your Heart" and we were off.

Somehow, the concert gods were with me as I fought my way through DTE traffic and made it to this show. Let me tell you, it was well worth it. After opening with his hit single and "If I Had Eyes", Jack said he'd play "Upside Down" for the kids and parents who had to take them home early. The first part of the concert kept going with a few more songs, some of them from the new CD. Then he brought out a guy from the ALO, the opener band who signed on to Jack's record label. He played slide guitar to a few songs including "Flake". Jack then brought out his Hawaiian friend Paula, and she provided vocals for one of my favorite songs on the new CD, "Turn Your Love". During this two hour set, Jack didn't do much talking except to dedicate a few songs to certain people like his wife, or daughter. He continued on with other hits like "Banana Pancakes", "Bubble Toes", Sitting, Waiting, Wishing", and then brought G Love (another opener) out for some harmonica and vocals on a song that Jack recorded called "Rodeo Clowns". Then he helped us sing along to one of my favorite songs on Jack's new CD called "At or With Me".

After all of that, we were treated to just Jack and his acoustic for 4 or 5 songs, including "Angel" for his wife. He then brought all of his friends, including the opening band members, and the night ended with a great version of "Better Together". What an incredible show! Nothing over the top, no extended rock endings or jumping around, but it was Jack at his best for a few hours. You can't ask for more than that. Overall, I'm very happy to write that I've finally seen one of my favorite artists after almost letting this great night slip by.

-PK