John Mayer's 'Battle Studies' Finale Rocks Florida

Life's little ironies...

Back in February when the first leg of the Battle Studies tour kicked off in Sunrise, Florida, I sat in my seat eagerly awaiting the guitar virtuoso only to be left a little underwhelmed.

Although he had just returned from doing various shows in the UK a few weeks earlier, he seemed restrained. There was little movement on stage, few riffs, and little crowd interaction. John Mayer was still getting his feet wet and had not yet loosened up.

Adding to the usual rigors of touring, he also had to face the very public backlash of his Playboy interview that erupted back in March. Unable to hide away until the smoke cleared, Mayer courageously faced crowds following the publication and at one point broke down in tears in front of thousands of fans during one of his shows.

It was an arduous tour, demanding for all the obvious and obscure reasons.

Fast forward eight months later and I find myself fighting off spasms of déjà vu as I take a seat to his final show of the tour at West Palm Beach, Florida on September 11.

Immediately when Mayer entered the stage it was almost like watching a different artist.

He was chiseled, smooth, and calm. Even his wardrobe conveyed his state of relaxation as he wore a cut off ambigram name tee, black cargo shorts, and Converse low tops without the laces. A checkered scarf tied around his head kept his overgrown hair from getting in his eyes.

He had just spent a little under a year out in the field, completed over 100 shows before millions of fans in three continents, and was now back to finish it off where it first started – no time for a haircut. He’s a musician and he’s got a job to do.

Mayer was crisp, sharp, and confident. He came on stage with a stamina that can only be gained from being out on the road for so long, and to the delight of 10,000 South Florida fans, it was going to be a long, awesome night in West Palm Beach.

An explosive cover of “Chest Fever” opened the show revealing Mayer as he kicked off his first song in what was to be a two-and-a-half hour show.

The warm, humid night in the open-air Cruzan Amphitheater did not seem to faze Mayer at all as he sang, played and engaged the crowd with candor, energy and his usual intellectual, tongue-in-cheek humor. The set was a compilation of his greatest hits such as “Your Body is a Wonderland,” “Waiting on the World to Change,” “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room,” and “Gravity” enhanced by the fact some of these songs were chosen by the audience when Mayer put them to a vote.

In between his originals, the classic covers he performed such as “Voodoo Child” and “Machine Gun” by Jimi Hendrix had him using the guitar feedback to achieve an impressive sound effect worthy of admiration and fascination.

Despite the somber date, Mayer found time to point out the clever signs fans made bringing extra attention to a law school student who had the honor of having her graduation tassels hang off his Fender. For “Covered in Rain,” he donned a New York Yankees hat to commemorate the ninth anniversary of 9/11.

He exuded a carefree and gracious mood. His friendly banter with the crowd consisted of reasons why girls reject guys, time travel, his thoughts on what he finds when he Google's himself and his promise to Cleveland he would wear a Cavalier jersey on his next visit to South Florida.

Before segueway-ing into “Perfectly Lonely,” he performed an exaggerated Jagger-esque dance to the Rolling Stones song “Beast of Burden,” causing the venue to erupt in a mixture of cheers and laughs.

He’d come a long way since February. Many long nights away from home, many miles already behind him, and many riffs played did not deter him from giving West Palm Beach his best. Some of his musical riffs and interludes lasted as long as fifteen minutes and with every song intro, the crowd jumped right back on their feet.

And just when you thought it was over, the lights remained off and amidst the roars, applause, stomps, and cheers of the crowd, Mayer and company returned for an encore that wrapped the show with “Edge of Desire” from his latest album.

Before the final bow, Mayer did what I had never seen before; he invited the stage crew on stage and gave them their due recognition for the long journey that had so brilliantly come to a perfect end.