Posted by concertgoers on March 3, 2010
Despite only knowing I had tickets to this show for a couple of weeks, waiting for the show to finally get here seemed like an eternity! During the days leading up to the concert, I listened to as much John Mayer as I could. My friend Lisa and I grew more and more anxious for February to end (not just because of Jimmy’s prediction of an early spring!), and we also grew more anxious about what we would wear and say to someone so famous!
Finally… March first was here! We both got off of work early to head to Milwaukee. The ride in the car consisted of a lot of great conversation, mostly circling around John Mayer and singing along to his songs as we drove. When we got downtown, we started off the evening right with no traffic problems and an awesome parking spot! We ate at a very secret restaurant, disguised as double agents on a mission, and we left to complete our mission through dark, underground tunnels.
Upon arrival at the Bradley Center, we stashed our coats at our fifth-row seats and went to take in the view from the 200- and 300-level seats. Though nobody was onstage yet, we knew we’d have such an amazing view on the floor!! We got a few pictures in front of the stage with each other before our 8pm meet-and-greet meeting time “under the stairs of Lobby A on the east side of the building.” There, we met a group of other excited fans, waiting for their chance to meet the star. A 16-year-old had tickets for her birthday, several radio personnel from Milwaukee area stations and their local winners were there, as well as a family who seemed to me like the biggest fans of all: their daughter (I assume) had a scrapbook she made of John Mayer. I guess thinking of myself as a “big fan” is really just relative…
It seemed like we waited for hours. Finally, at about 9pm, they took us backstage. We walked into a white, cement hallway with fluorescent lighting, pipes and ducts visible in the ceiling. A curtain about 100 feet into the hallway separated us from the reason we were there. Another 30 minutes later, and the commotion started… none other than musical genius John Mayer had come out from the curtained-abyss, ready to sign merchandise and pose for pictures!
The line moved along pretty quickly. It quickly came our turn: we were going to MEET John Mayer!!! :D Not knowing what we would say or how to act, we walked up to him as he asked our names. Lisa and I had John sign our ticket stubs and Battle Studies albums: ”TO MEGAN! <3 John Mayer,” with a completely-illegible signature, of course. YESSS!! John asked us how we would get back into the concert with sharpie all over our tickets. Our very quick-wittedness
came in handy, as we told him we’d just have to have him come let us in if they didn’t let us! We were beaming upon meeting the celebrity, and we posed for a picture with him, his arms around us, wearing huge smiles for the camera. It was all over so quickly–probably just a couple of minutes from start to finish, and the only thing we could say on the way out was what every other person in that hallway probably said to their company as they left: ”WE JUST MET JOHN MAYER!!!”
We entered the arena and re-found our seats, only to find 3 other girls there. They were in the wrong section, but at first my heart jumped a beat–how could they have double-booked our seats!? We got everything straightened out and enjoyed what was left of Michael Franti and Spearhead. We only caught the last few minutes of their set, but they put on a great show!!

After the stage crew changed the set, the second moment we had been waiting for finally happened: the lights dimmed, the music started, and John’s shadow began to emerge on the screen in front of the stage. The audience roared as he entered the stage with his electric guitar, opening the show with a fantastic rendition of “Heartbreak Warfare.” Our cameras went up right away, trying to get the best shot, the best light, the best view of the guy who we couldn’t stop talking about: “WE JUST MET HIM!!!!”

John put on a fantastic show! He showed a little bit of his humorous side on stage, played songs from several of his albums, and he played a new song for us that he recently wrote in a hotel bathroom. John’s talent at playing the guitar cannot truly be appreciated until you see him live–he is *truly* musical napalm! Little jam sessions with his band members were my favorite parts of the night–just to see him wail away on his guitar, hearing every note he played, knowing he spent hours working to play those riffs just right, seeing the passion he has for playing in the contortions of his face–it was as if he was in a room by himself, pouring his emotions and soul into his music, and we just happened to be there, listening to and watching him spew his life into his music.

I cannot thank Triple MMM enough for giving me this experience! Lisa and I had a night out that we’ll certainly never forget, and I left the Bradley Center that night with a newfound appreciation for John and blues guitar and more pictures than I can count. I got home to find out that my eyes were closed in the picture we got with John (go figure!), but I’m still going to call it a frame-able night. :) I’ll definitely have to see him again next time he’s in town!
–Megan Buege

Heather





































































