"Gravity"

As you all read in the last post, I gave Nick John Mayer tickets for his 30th birthday. We went to the concert last Friday.  Just so you see why these tickets were a gift, let me give you a little background on my/our “history” with John Mayer.  I have a very special place for John in my heart.  I have seen him live 13 (give or take a few...I honestly lost count) times or so (traveling pretty far on some occasions to do so), the first of which was in 2001.  The first time I saw him, he opened for Guster and I thought, “Who is this AWESOME guy with a guitar?”  He enjoyed the audience so much and loved every moment of playing for us. He was funny, charming and talented.  The writing was on the wall that this guy was going to make it.  At that time, I was at the Guster concert with friends.  It was my freshman year at OU, I didn't even know Nick then!  Little did I know he was at the Gypsy Tea Room that night too seeing John for the very first time!

  Later that year, I saw him play a private party for a fraternity house at the University of Oklahoma.  It was a party for Kappa (my sorority) and Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity.  It was AMAZING!!  That was a magical night.  John played FOREVER!  I stood on the front row and had a little conversation with him during the show...it went something like this...

John:  "Let's break some strings on this one, shall we?"

Kelly:  "John, if you break your string, can I have it?"

John:  "That is not a hypothetical question about when I break it, you can have it as soon as I break it."

Kelly:  "Is it Neon?"

John:  "Oh it's not Neon yet, Neon's coming up..."

OK, so then it went on for a while, he played Love Song for No One, broke a guitar string and gave it to me.  I have it somewhere.  After an incredible show, several of my sorority sisters and I met him and took pictures with him.  OK, so you are about to see some ghetto fabulous pictures (1)  I don't have a scanner, these are pictures of pictures (this is life before digital cameras) and (2) well it's 2001, this is some old school Kelly...

Remember that shirt from my garage sale?  Yeah, I kept it, don't ask...

Oh and here are just some random pictures of him setting up and playing...

As time progressed, my friends and I saw him more and more.  His shows and talent were incredible.  In late 2001, I went with a couple of friends to a John Mayer concert in Dallas one week night.  That concert was truly life changing.  That night, this Sig Ep named, Nick, came along to the concert.  He brought his books for the car ride.  He had a test the next day.  That night, I met the boy who would eventually become my amazing husband.  Nick and  I went to every John Mayer show we could while dating.  We owed his music to our meeting one another.  John was the reason we drove from Norman to Dallas on a school night!  We saw him open for Guster and eventually Guster was opening for him.  We saw him move on from playing fraternity houses and tiny venues to large arenas.  Every show just got better; all that being said, I have this emotional attachment to John Mayer and the “bigger picture” that he contributed to in my life. We were even members of the Fan Club, before you had to pay to be a member!

 Nick and I were married in 2004 upon graduating from OU. We still have a true love for John and his contribution to our lives.  Since moving to Borger our concert going has slowed down substantially, we have to drive to Dallas or Oklahoma City for concerts.  Since we moved here, we have only been to three:  Guster in Dallas in 2006, Ben Folds in Dallas in 2009 and finally, John Mayer last weekend in Oklahoma City.

When I found out John was touring, I immediately bought tickets to surprise Nick for his 30th birthday. For us, nothing is more special than a John Mayer concert. We were so excited, I just wish I would have known...

  I honestly cannot tell you how much my heart aches for John Mayer.  We were so excited to see him live.  It has been a while.  However, we left sad and disheartened.  That fun loving, awesome performer turned into a sad person.  He simply gave off the vibe that he really didn't want to be on that stage.  He barely talked in between songs and was basically an opposite of what he typically is on stage. We kept saying to each other, “Who is this?  Where is the joke cracking, loving the audience guy we both fell in love with nine years ago?” Nick tried to justify it, “He’s on tour, and maybe he’s tired.”  True, but Nick followed him in 2003 (It think it was 2003) for three concerts in three different cities three nights in a row and he was just as fun at each one.  It was not just us who felt this way; we had a dear college friend there that felt the same way.  Don’t get me wrong, he is still an incredible musician and great performer, but came off as a completely different person.  He came across as a person who for lack of a better word, just seemed hurt. And for both of us it was a realization that “following John” might be over.  We were there to “celebrate” Nick’s 30^th birthday and realized that the part of our lives that we spent falling in love with each other and falling in love with John Mayer changed.  We are no longer in college and he is no longer “up and coming.”  We still love John and his music, but I have been sad all week.  It has been so tough to think that an end of an era has come to close.

I think most of you know that I listen to Kidd Kraddick every morning.  He is a radio DJ in Dallas who I started listening to when I was ten years old!  He had a conversation with John before the Dallas show last night.  John is in a rough place right now.  He is dealing with poor choices he made in speaking with the media and the scrutiny that has occured due to his actions.  He also is dealing with his parents' divorce and obviously a break up.  The album just happened to be released during this tumultuous time in his life.  Due to contracts, etc, he still must tour and do media interviews.  Obviously with all that is going on, it effects his performances.  Honestly, I was glad to know this because I thought maybe it was just us.  I thought maybe we were getting too old to enjoy concerts like we used to or had ridiculous expectations for our favorite performer.  

 I know I do not truly know him, but I do have an emotional attachment to him and his music.  I was truly concerned after the concert that he was headed to possible self destructive behavior simply because his sadness seemed to radiate in to the audience.  Though, I doubt that most of the people in the Ford Center even noticed.  Everyone seemed to receive him well.  I do want to reiterate that he put on a great show, he was just different.  However, one can look at his musical progression and see the difference in the boy who sang “No Such Thing” and the man who sings “Who Says.”

Nick and I still love John and he will forever be a part of our relationship and how we found one another.  There is hope though that perhaps this is just a stage and not the end of an era. I just hated the idea that last week might have been our last John Mayer concert.

I apologize for the wordiness of this entry, but this has been truly cathartic.  I feel like the bigger picture of John’s performance affected how we feel about ourselves (ageing, etc) and that was tough.  Things are different, they have been for a long time.  Nick's and my relationship gets stronger and stronger each day, however; there is something so fun about remembering those early days of first falling in love.  We made every effort to attend every concert we could and had the best time. Hopefully John will come full circle so we can fall in love with seeing him perform all over again.  He is still an incredible performer, it is just in a different way now.  Probably the same way we all evolve and change as the years go by.  He is in my thoughts and prayers. 

Here are some pics from the evening...

PS...We still LOVE John and ALL of his music, do not let this discourage you from seeing John if you have the opportunity.  He is a genius musician. In fact, I have my John Mayer playing on my iTunes right now!  He is still AMAZING...just different...I just want him to be in a good place again....

Happy Wednesday everybody!!