As good as the acoustic set was, the blues trio set is even better. Before the performance, Mayer is shown backstage with his trio bandmates, bassist, Pino Palladino, and drummer, Steve Jordan, as they change into matching black suites, with crisp white shirts, and thin black ties. They may have looked very cool in those slick suites, but they came out smoldering. With obvious similarities to Cream, the John Mayer Trio rivals any other blues-rock power trio going. Steve Jordon's amazing drumming style leans more towards jazz than it does the blues, and as far as Pino Palladino's bass playing goes - lets just say that The Who chose him to replace the late John Entwistle for a good reason.
They perform songs mostly from the Trio and Continuum albums, including two impressive Hendrix covers, "Wait Until Tomorrow" and "Bold As Love". Mayer plays a variety of Fenders Strats throughout the set, and even breaks out a large Guild, hollow-body, electric for the very jazzy "Come When I Call", a previously unreleased Mayer tune. The highlight of the set had to be the long, slow-blues jam, "Out Of My Mind", where Mayer absolutely seals the deal for me. Call me greedy, but I wish he would just stick to the blues stuff from now on.
The full band set featured most of the best Continuum tracks, along with the Room For Squares hit "Why Georgia". Mayer's music really comes to life and is much more satisfying to me live. The sound is more organic, and Mayer's guitar is much more pronounced. The entire set was strong and very diverse, mixing in elements of pop, jazz, blues, and soul. Mayer leads into "Gravity" with a few verses of Otis Reading's "I've Got Dreams to Remember" and then closes it out with a ridiculous guitar solo that served as the perfect set closer.
Steve Jordon and Pino Palladino join the rest of the band during a three song encore that was highlighted by a tremendously spirited performance of "Belief". Mayer not only won me over with his guitar playing, but I now have a new appreciation for his vocals, which were very strong and affecting throughout the show. I found his unique vocal style to be especially well suited for the blues material.
I am sure that Where the Light Is will be added to many an audiophile's short list of concert DVDs that they use to demo their overpriced home theater systems. The DVD features a couple of the best audio tracks I have ever heard, arriving in both 24-bit, 96 kHz lossless stereo PCM, and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio. Bass response is particularly impressive, and each instrument is presented with crystal clear precision.
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