John Mayer, rain or shine

MANILA, Philippines - The heavy downpour that Friday did not deter local fans from seeing international singer-songwriter and guitarist John Mayer perform at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds. After all, it took 10 years for John to do a concert in Manila, since he gained fame as a solo artist, when he released his debut album, Room for Squares.

It was worth the long wait. John would have performed in Manila as early as May this year, but the show was postponed for no given reason. Rain or shine this time, he sang and played before a sell-out crowd. It was the turn of John’s Filipino fans to experience his music.

Before John emerged onstage, Aiza Seguerra regaled the crowd with her acoustic numbers. Even if the multi-talented Aiza sings really well, her opening act was limited to only a few songs. The producers were apparently aware that the crowd went there for John.

With deafening screams from the audience, John opened the show with the funky Vultures, from his third studio album, Continuum. He started out as an acoustic rock artist, then gradually made a transition towards the blues genre.

For his Manila concert, he carried out some of his biggest hits from his multi-platinum albums – No Such Thing, Perfectly Lonely, Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, Waiting on the World to Change, Stop This Train.

Among his well-applauded numbers were his versions of Bill Wither’s classic piece, Ain’t No Sunshine and a medley of Half of My Heart with Journey’s popular anthem, Don’t Stop Believin’, which younger generation associates more with the TV series, Glee.

When the familiar strains of John’s Grammy Award-winning song, Your Body is a Wonderland, were being played on his guitar, the audience went wild. The piece is undoubtedly his biggest hit to date.

Gravity, meanwhile, said to be the most important song John has ever written, got another ear-splitting scream from the audience.

In all the early numbers, John displayed his mastery in guitar playing, which all the more reinforced his popularity and strong, worldwide album sales. In the latter half of the show, John played a number of instrumental pieces like Do You Know Me, where he wowed the crowd with his brilliant ukelele playing.

John had very little spiels in between his songs. That’s why each time he would say something, the crowd shrieked and howled.

Inevitably, there were those who were hoping to see Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston, John’s rumored girlfriend, in the audience that night. But she was nowhere in sight.

John played a few more tunes that got the crowd electrified – Who Says, Heartbreak Warfare and Why Georgia.

We were waiting to hear John’s hauntingly beautiful ballad, Dreaming With a Broken Heart, which was, at one time, used in the TV series, Veronica Mars, but quite disappointingly, it wasn’t included in his repertoire. His version of Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’ was also being shouted by boisterous fans, who went home without hearing the song.

The huge open-air field became a virtual sea of people – from the general admission to the bronze, silver, gold and platinum sections. As early as 5 p.m., people already lined up outside the venue despite the heavy downpour. Even parking was an ordeal.

There was an instant “titanium” section outside, where people without tickets stood conveniently with a roof above their head at the annex of the SMX Convention Center. The audio was loud enough, but they had to crane their necks for most part of the show just to get a glimpse of John from the giant screen, where his image was seen even from the mall across the open field.

For a moment, we thought that section was perhaps the best because all those in the field were soaked after the concert.

A number of celebrities braved the rains just to see John Mayer in the flesh – Gary Valenciano with daughter Kiana, Dr. Vicki Belo with daughter Cristalle, son Quark and ex-partner Atom Henares, Pauleen Luna, Diana Meneses, Pia Guanio, Yasmien Kurdi, Jocas de Leon, Iza Calzado, Sarah Lahbati and Jinkee Pacquiao with sisters Haydee and Janet.

An encore of Edge of Desire finished John’s two-hour Manila performance, which is part of his 30-city world concert tour for Battle Studies, his fourth studio album released in the country by Sony Music Philippines.

Channel V producers must be grinning from ear to ear because after successfully bringing in R&B superstar Usher to Manila last July, they had another sold-out concert with John Mayer.