Amalie Arena welcomed the SOB ROCK tour to the Bay Area of Florida on April 05 2022 by Joel Shover
The second Florida stop for the Sob Rock Tour happened on Tuesday April 5th 2022 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL. This day even started with the jammiest of jams, “The Traffic Jam” on every road heading to the arena. Word is out on the street that there is more to this Mayer guy than all the bee bop pop persona that has been media fed. Mayer is the real deal and is a Guitar GOD! It’s wonderful to hear in the stands all the new fans embracing his music along side us old timers.
After talks of previous shows and how great John is. The lights went down and it was time for YEBBA, John’s opening act from West Memphis, AR. Her soul-foul singing just takes you off into another universe with every passionate note she hits. She is a performer that you can feel through her music has been through some real-life things. She can take you up and down with a single note change in her beautiful voice. I for one am a fan for sure and you should listen to her if you haven’t yet. Not to mention Pino Palladino was playing bass for her!
Yebba now had the crowd even hotter than they were the last show.
Now it was time to climb aboard the SOB Rock train and let John takes us where he will. Aaron Sterling took us into the first notes of “Last Train Home” (from what I’m hearing Aaron will be drumming for the rest of the tour) and the crowd went wild! This was a different John than we saw in Sunrise. The band was in sync and having fun you could see the smiles back and forth on their faces. John brought the love tonight. “Shot in The Dark” was the next single from the new album sob rock and was definitely played in a groovy way tonight. Sticking with the groove John broke into the classic “I Don’t Trust Myself” as the crowd sang and swayed along.
Check out the full gallery of photos from this night here.
Check out the full show audio recorded by Joel Shover:
A quote often heard in the Mayer fan community is “You can thank Jimmy Hendrix for John Mayer” and once you see Mayer live once you’ll know exactly what that statement truly holds. John then played “Belief” as he showed off some of those very skills! There may be a no smoking policy at the Amalie Arena but that didn’t stop the fans from rolling along with “Who Says”. As of writing this, round trip airfare to Japan from Tampa is $899.00. John stayed on the Martin acoustic guitar for “Something Like Olivia” assuring us fans he was not a man stealing another woman from her man. “I Guess I Just Feel Like” came next and as John says it’s the most painful song that he sings. I agree, as it’s a grieving ballad that is forever a staple in Mayer’s extensive catalog. Tonight’s rendition featured an insane guitar solo that channeled Mayer’s feelings as he does so wondrously. With grief it comes in waves and John told us that with “Emoji Of A Wave” a fan favorite from The Search For Everything.
John kept the acoustic tunes flowing to the sold-out crowd’s delight. “In You Atmosphere” was the next sing along song that broke out every cell phone in the house. The classic Tom Petty “Free Fallin” was next up as we all left the world for a while. John had a little fun with the crowd before playing “Your Body Is a Wonderland”. We were all in deep now with “Wild Blue” it was deeper than we ever knew. I would settle for a zoom video of Mark Knopfler playing that riff with Mayer if I could never see it on stage! John proclaimed that his next song was the most emo song he had in his bag of stuff. “Edge of Desire” was played and Mayer set fire, with his jams, to the Amalie Arena so the fans were sure not forget about him.
The next song “If I Ever Get Around to Living” John told us is special to his heart and his growing in life. This took us into the song everyone was waiting to sing “Slow dancing in A Burning Room” and the room was burning up as this show was on fire! It didn’t stop there the band broke into “Till The Right One Comes”. This song found a new home in the setlist tonight. The world known hit “Gravity” was next up as John masterfully played for an awe-inspired crowd. John thanked the crowd and left the stage
The encore showed another acoustic gem “It Shouldn’t Matter but It Does” and the band finished off the night in a “New Light”
Special thanks to Greg Phillanganes for making me smile all night with your stage presence!
These shows keep getting better and better …. Go See Live Music
Till the next show……Joel
SET LIST:
Last Train Home
Shot in the Dark
I Don’t Trust Myself
Belief
Who Says
Something Like Olivia
I Guess I Just Feel Like
John Mayer solo
Emoji of a Wave
In Your Atmosphere
Free Falling
Wonderland
Wild Blue
Edge of Desire
If I Ever Get Around to Living
Slow Dancing
Til the Right One Comes –> You Can Call Me Al
Gravity
e:
Shouldn’t Matter But It Does
New Light
Check out the full gallery of photos from this night here.
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