Famous singer and guitarist, John Mayer, kicked off his first solo tour on March 11 after headlining 11 tours and co-headlining four others in his entire career. The tour, named “John Mayer Solo,” sold out almost immediately and has 18 dates including Ocean City, MD and Fort Lauderdale, FL. This tour is like no other with Mayer including songs from each of his albums, even his very first album, “Room For Squares” from 2001.

Mayer first announced this tour through Instagram when he posted a photo and captioned it “It wasn’t time until it was.” In the past few years, Mayer has been touring with Dead & Company which are the original Grateful Dead band members. John Mayer taking over for lead singer Jerry Garcia. He has also been doing an album tour for his last album “Sob Rock.”

“John Mayer is an extremely special artist. He has the ability to go on a stage with no background effects, just him and his guitar, and make it the most amazing night,” senior Olivia Binder said.

Mayer also stated in an Instagram post on Jan. 26, “I’ll be playing old songs. Newer songs. Songs you haven’t heard yet that I’ll be road testing-all on acoustic, electric and piano.”

Mayer is considered one of the greatest guitarists of this generation and him going on tour to play on his own is a pleasant surprise.

“I have seen John Mayer on tour a couple of times, but never seen him play the piano which I think is a great touch he is adding to the show,” junior Danielle Knee said.

Mayer will end the tour in Los Angeles, CA on April 14. Mayer has the freedom to play a variety of different songs and skip around in the setlist at each show, making the concert unique to each city.

For example, Mayer mentioned after his Minnesota show in an Instagram post,how struck he was that each city was a completely different show. The songs were different and so were the audience’s reactions. He wanted it to feel special.

Mayer has played new songs including “In the Neighborhood” in Denver, Colorado and old songs such as “Home Life” that was last played 17 years ago. It is also unique that each setlist is never the same twice.

“You never know what you are going to get with John Mayer. He changes the chords on his guitar depending on his mood. He will even play a song if he hears someone shout it out in the audience,” senior Lindsay Nattis said.

Mayer begins each show differently as well. He either sits up on the acoustic or stands with the electric guitar. He does, however, play the piano somewhere in the middle of each set. He does incorporate one of his most famous songs “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” into each setlist which was the first song at the Chicago show.

“He wants the audience to feel special, so he does not live stream any of his shows which I think adds a sense of intimacy in each performance,” senior Skylar Bons said.

This tour was long awaited and completely unexpected. Mayer is now officially independent and not signed with a label which gave him the freedom to start this tour. This tour will be a top favorite by John Mayer fans.