saw him last night - album release concert/party type of deal
bowery ballroom, NYC

I gotta say, this crept right in to my top 5 concerts ive seen in my 10 years in new york.
the thing that makes a concert really special for me, is when its a special show for the artist, and it shows in their performance
some other examples being sharon jones & the dap-kings playing the apollo for the first time, jay-z RD 25th anniv concert at radio city, amy winehouse's first N.american performance at joe's pub ---- ive seen all those cats do other shows - but i never saw them play their hearts out like i did on those nights - thats the way it was for Mayer last night. It was the night before his major label debut, concert in new york city, his parents were there watching, he did the Today show that morning, you know? so not a normal day for him. he was really happy about this moment in his life and you could tell.
the show started off OK. he led off with Robot Love, which is probly my least favorite song on the album, and he played a LOT of old stuff too (i was expecting it to be more new-centric), so i was mildly put off at first, but it just built and built, and the show just kept getting tighter and tighter and better with each song.
trying to recall which tracks he played off the new record:
robot love - crime - corsican rose (my fave) - i sort of remember designer drug being played - stars are ours - her favorite song (with LARGE PROFESSOR dropping in and spitting his verse from the remix)
and the kicker...
after his encore of barry white's Playing Your Game, Baby - which transitions into Just Aint Gonna Work out (crazy hearing him transition from such a low pitch to such a high one via that segue)....i think this has been a standard encore as of late. but THEN...
he played Reach Out Richard.....TO HIS FATHER SITTING IN THE BALCONY. jeezus. i think that song is just ok on record - its TOO steely dan for me. but he destroyed this track live. his vocal tone was smoother than it had been the whole night. it was just fantastic.