Viva La Música!: They Love to Tell You Stay Inside the Lines...

John Mayer was my first. 

First time going to a concert that is. 

I remember picking up his debut album Room for Squares in the beginning of 2002 and falling in love with it. Every song told a story with innate observation. I even liked the cheeseball, "You're Body is a Wonderland." Cause even if you don't want to admit it, you secretly want a guy to tell you that. He opened the floodgates for me in the sensitive singer/songwriter guy genre. With the album having a permanent place in the car stereo system, I knew that when he made a tour stop to San Diego, I had to go see him concert. It took some parental convincing to let me go. But let me go they did and on a warm August day, (the 18th to be exact) I made my way to San Diego to experience my first concert. 

I went with my friends Brittany and Joe, who were dating at the time. But being the third wheel didn't faze me, all I could think of was that I was going to see John Mayer perform live! As I walked with them to the ticket gates at  San Diego States Open Air Theater, I could feel all this energy bursting out of me. I think the ticket guy had to calm me down a little bit cause I wasn't even in the venue yet. But rest assured, there was no crying or fainting before, during or after the concert. 

We took our seats and saw the two opening acts, The John Butler Trio and Guster, perform. But in all honestly  I couldn't wait for John to perform. So when John and his band walked on stage, to I think it was either Nelly's "Hot in Herre" or the "Star Wars Theme", I was fixated. For the next hour and an half, I sang along to every song, marveled at his witty banter and laughed when he did his weird guitar faces or his hee-haw dance (if you ever watched his first DVD Any Given Thursday with the commentary, you'll know what I mean.)

It was one of those concerts where the musician and the audience where totally digging each other. Everyone was on the same energy wave. I knew I didn't want to concert to end, but alas it did. So as everyone filed out of the Open Air Theater, my friends and I waited over by the tour buses along with our fellow John Mayer fans. After what it seemed like an hour of waiting, he finally emerge to sign autographs and take pictures. However his "handler" told the crowd that he wasn't taking individual pictures. Boo. So I had to devise another way of getting my picture taken with John. 

Which resulted in this...

When I look at it now, it's the lamest picture ever. I'm still trying to figure out why I have my hand up. I think I was leaning back and didn't want to loose my balance. I guess it's good to know that eveyone there had to do some lame pose like this. Despite that he did sign my concert ticket and the cd sleeves for Room for Squares and his EP, Inside Wants Out. 

I remember having to start school the next day, but I didn't care. I was still on my concert high. I swear I couldn't stop smiling the next day. 

I can't believe it's been 8 years since then and John has gotten himself in some crazy shenanigans and is usually accompanied by the d-word (take your pick). 

Especially in the last month. 

It makes me want to tell him...

 But despite that, I still enjoy his music and nothing can take away from my first concert experience.