john mayer @ msg

Hello again Madison Square Garden. It's only been 2 days, but I've missed you so much I've returned to you. This time not for a sporting event. Nay, to observe the coveted John Mayer "O" face for a good two hours.

After a hearty dinner at some Irish place where the waiter did not speak English, nor know what a "Happy Hour" meant until I said "beer on sale," Amy and I headed over to MSG to find our seats. Last time I saw J. Mayer (Hollywood Bowl summer '07) we sat in literally the last row of the place. Not this time. It was quite the opposite. They kept taking us further down, all the way to the floor, where we sat a mere 100 yards (gasp!) away from the O face himself.

Once Johnny got on stage, and the tweenage girls filling the Garden were done screaming (for a minute or two), he played quite a good set. I mean, the dude's a douche and he's arrogant but in the words of Wayne from Wayne's World - "He can really wail." The man can play himself a mean guitar. Bluesy too. That shit's real good. He's one of those artists that is awesome to see in concert, because he is actually talented.

So the next few hours were spent listening to Johnny boy play and sing, and it was great. He has a lot of recognizable songs, and did a few pretty awesome covers - including Crossroads, and Ain't No Sunshine. And as an added bonus, I got to see him contort his silly putty face into many a shape as he jammed.

He did kind of address the recent controversy about him saying some racist comments to Playboy...while introducing the band (and himself), he said something along the lines of "I never meant to be an asshole. I never tried to sound like an asshole." John, that's not really an apology. And if you are talking and not meaning to sound like an asshole, yet you still sound like one, doesn't that mean that you are really an asshole? COME ON! But he totally made up for his arrogant attitude later when he said how so many people tweeted about how the weather was ruining their hair, but everyone's hair looked great. This was met with screams, crying and general hysteria. And throw up from me.

Other than that, the concert was a blast!

(special thanks to Amy D. and Rusty for an arrangement that allowed me to go to this)