Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles review

Constantly developing musician John Mayer

Young, but extremely promising artist John Clayton Mayer is the long-time favorite with the public for his wonderful songs. No doubt, everyone remembers his prolific pop hit Your Body Is A Wonderland, for which he got a Grammy. However, the musician decided not to put himself in the boundaries of one definite genre of pop music and got fascinated with blues - no wonder, as Mayer is the passionate fan of Stevie Ray Vaughan, he even has a tattoo with the initial letters of his star’s name. Although Mayer always positioned himself as the solo artist, in order to perform blues, he gathered his own band, John Mayer Trio. The fame fallowed the steps of Mayer as bluesman, but the artist strived for further development and harmonically moved to blues-rock. This transition was an extremely successful one and saw a great approve of the audience. Besides, the singer selflessly worked for charity funds, toured alone and with other famous musicians, had romances that flooded the periodicals with raving news and began to write articles himself. Well, Mayer did not stand at one place as both the personality and musicians - his play became more professional (he was even nicknamed Slow Hand Junior after Eric Clapton), vocals acquired more sensitiveness, while the material became more amusing. His life performances are known for their energy and masterfulness. The record of the charity concert by John Mayer with John Mayer Trio in Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles, California, entered the double edition Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles.

Three alter egos of John Mayer

This double disc was many surprises for the listeners. Firstly, musically the album is divided into three parts - on each of them Mayer performs in different image and sound. The first part of Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles is his solo acoustic part of the concert. It features such hits by the artists as Neon and Daughters. It also has the piercing cover for Free Fallin, earlier sung by Tom Perry in 1989. The second part presents the songs that Mayer played with his blues trio. The cover for Jimi Hendrix's Bold As Love is undoubtedly one of the central compositions of this disc - on this track, Mayer showed himself as the brilliant guitarist and improvisator. Wait Until Tomorrow, one more interpretation of Hendrix's heritage, became the refreshing splash of pop blues. The masterful blues-rock track Who Did You Think I Was got it new sounding in live record. And, at last, on the third part of the disc Mayer performs in front of the full-piece rock collective. This part is opened by the hit single Waiting On The World To Change from John's last studio album Continuum. It is followed by other, no ways less popular tunes by Mayer - the autobiographical Why Georgia, bluesy Gravity, catchy Belief - they all sound originally due to the heavier concert acoustics. The unexpected, rioting cover for Ray Charles' R&B hit I Don't Need No Doctor is also worth mentioning.

John Mayer as the original artist

The album Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles became one more success of John Mayer as both the author and musician. The high-quality acoustics of Nokia Theatre and professional sound made the quality of the disc equal to the studio record. The long-play astonishingly has all the nuances of the play, all the emotional shades of Mayer's vocals. Additionally, The Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles managed to preserve the wonderful energy of the artist's concerts so that the feeling of presence is very strong when you listen to the record. The obsessed by blues singer did not only give the new life to his long-time hits on this full-length, he also demonstrated the listeners his musical preferences with the help of several original covers. Moreover, John Mayer showed himself on Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles in three different images consecutively - as the solo pop bluesman, as the trio member and as the frontman of the whole rock band. No doubt, such an amusing disc conception will leave no listener emotionless. Mayer discovers the sphere of blues-rock and is brave enough to make experiments, change the static for the first sight things and even riot - as he made with the R&B hit of 60's I Don't Need No Doctor. It is for sure that Mayer's originality and masterfulness found its total embodiment on Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles.