This is how Beth and I spent our evening tonight. Beth bought the tickets a few months back and was very excited about it at the time, but I was less than enthusiastic (“What, I need to listen to a gang of screaming 16 year old girls all night?”), and by the time concert time rolled around tonight we were seriously considering bagging it and just going out to dinner. We didn’t, though, which was the right call.

This was a really good concert, better than I was expecting. We had the worst tickets in life — the absolute highest row in the venue; if I were a little bit taller I could have touched the ceiling — and even that was okay.

John Mayer is a clever, funny guy and he really engaged the audience. At one point he finally acknowledged the screaming 16 year-old girls down front by saying “… and I love you too, but I’m working! But I do love you — in all kinds of safe and legal ways,” which cracked me up. I also liked the way he didn’t just jump from song to song, reeling them off like items on a list. Instead he sort of loafed his way through the set, noodling around with guitar riffs between songs and meandering into the next, showing off what an excellent guitar player he is and weaving a bluesy, jazzy tapestry around the entire performance.

Interestingly, many of the songs I usually skip on his CDs were my favorites tonight as he performed them live, and many of my CD favorites didn’t translate as well. My only regret of the evening is that he didn’t do Something’s Missing, which is my favorite. But he made Neon work for me tonight, so it all evens out.

John Mayer or dinner…? Advantage: Mayer.