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Taken from The University News (Mar 27, 2010)
John Mayer and Michael Franti rock Sprint Center
by Melissa Oribhabor
 John Mayer and opening act Michael Franti made their way to the Sprint Center on Monday as part of Mayer’s 2010 winter tour to promote his new album, “Battle Studies.” Mayer was riding high for many years, selling out stadiums around the world. But since his now infamous Playboy interview, Mayer is struggling to hold on to the large number of ticket sales he became used to.
The show at the Sprint Center did not sell out, it fell short by several thousand tickets. But even without a sold out show, the audience was still palpably excited.
Opening act, Franti and his band, best know for their current hit single “Say Hey (I love you),” performed as attendees were still arriving at the venue.
Being an opening act for an artist as big a John Mayer is a great way to expose large numbers of new people to your music, but can be difficult since the crowd is there to see the headliner.
But Franti is not a typical opening act.
Even with a slow reaction from the crowd at first, Franti and his band members had so much energy and enthusiasm that one could forget Mayer was waiting back stage to go on.
Franti walked through the venue, singing with fans and getting his picture taken with them as he was still performing.
He brought children on stage to sing and was by far one of the most personable acts, considering the current success of the band.
Franti himself was a powerhouse of talent and charisma. As a whole, the opening act was worth the 66 dollars it cost to get into the show.
If only we could say the same about Mayer.
As Franti left the stage to sign autographs and take pictures with fans, the rest of the reserved seats filled and Mayer took his place on stage. As the lights went down and Mayer appeared, the auditorium shook with screams from the large number of female fans, many younger than 15.
The first few songs were very thrilling, primarily because it was Mayer singing and he was the person everyone paid to see.
But as the show went on, extremely long guitar and drum solos, accompanied by a stretch of slow music caused the excitement to lull and, after a while, it seemed the same experience could be achieved by listening to the music in your car and saving the $66 for something a bit for exciting.
One high point of the show was when Mayer reverted to his standard comedic rhetoric, pointing out some of the funny signage the fans brought, notably a sign held by a young girl. Mayer commented that she was not old enough to carry a sign calling him “sexy,” but she was “just young enough to spell ‘you’re’ wrong.”
It was moments like that that made people forget about the controversy currently surrounding him and the mediocrity of the live show.
Mayer’s voice did sound flawless, however, and the show left no doubt he is an extremely talented singer, musician and songwriter.
He performed fan-favorites, such as “Gravity,” which received one of the biggest cheers of the night, as well as songs from his new album, such as his current single “Who Says.”
It was obvious Mayer is comfortable on stage, maybe at times too comfortable.
Even though Mayer put on a good show, it was not amazing, it was not as good as Franti and it was not worth $66.
But the way things are going with him recently, his tickets might not cost that much for long.
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