Word was that doors would open at 6pm, but they didn’t open until 6:30. We decided to go in and wandered around for a bit when my cousins found me and we signed up to try and win upgraded tickets. Then we went off to buy merch. Which always takes forever with me at Mayer shows haha. Christine and I each got the “it’s been a long night in Hartford” shirt since we were there pretty much all afternoon and evening lol I got the generic summer tour poster (bummed they did not have a show specific one) a program and of course – Silly Bandz.
Then we bought frozen drinks and went to our seats even though I didn’t really want to see Train. I completely forgot to pick up the wristbands I had ordered for charity. Hopefully they can be mailed to me!
Trains set was LONG. I’m not sure exactly how long (40+ minutes I’d say) but it was a little bit too long for me. The last time I had seen Train was 10 years ago and I was growing impatient because Hanson would be on next. I had a similar feeling with this show, waiting for John! A lot of the crowd was very into them though, which was good. Pat even called a mother/daughter up on stage – they were in the row behind us dancing! They got to sing and dance on stage with him. If anyone knows who they are – I’d love to get in contact with them – I took a few photos of them that I would be more than happy to email to them as a keepsake.
Then about 9pm it was time for John! We were 7th row on David Ryan Harris’ side (yeahh nick jonas and the administration lol) which I thought was a pretty good spot. He started out with Bigger than My Body and then went into No Such Thing. I am much more familiar with the older stuff than Battle Studies. Don’t get me wrong, I looove Battle Studies, but for some reason I am just having a hard time retaining the lyrics lol So I was glad a lot of the set was older stuff.
At one point he went into a jam which turned into Ain’t No Sunshine which was phenomenal. A couple of times during one of the songs I was fascinated by the images going over the video on the screen behind him – lots of circuits and stuff. What can I say, I’m an engineer. I might have even taken a photo of it…
Another highlight was when he had Pat join him on stage for Boys of Summer. That was a really fun sing along. He also had us do a call and response here he named cities and girls and we’d yell back “We love ’em!” And once again he said my city 🙂 February was the first time I had ever heard him say it so I was excited that he mentioned it again!
And not mentioned in the official setlist – a couple had a sign that said they were engaged and he made up a pretty hilarious song about the couple. I kind of can’t wait to find a recording of the show just to hear that made up song again. There was a taper a couple of rows behind me so I am just patiently waiting for him to get that posted somewhere.
While the setlist might not show it – it was a LONG show. Lots of jamming and songs just went on and on and of course the occasional banter. He played for about 2 hours – I think it all ended about 11 and we were back at Christine’s by 11:30. Would have been even sooner than that if they could figure out an easier way to get the drunk idiots back to the parking lots in an organized fashion!
Photos coming soon – I just wanted to get this review out of the way before I forgot what happened!