The Music Note

O2 Arena, London - 13/10/2019 O2 Arena, London - 14/10/2019 Manchester Arena - 18/10/2019 On his latest tour, John Mayer took the unique approach of forgoing a support act in favour of delivering two full headline sets. This is a very exciting concept that more artists seem to be embracing. A gig without an opening act allows the artist more freedom to play what they want, while pleasing fans with a more varied setlist. In Mayer’s case, with no new album to support since 2017’s The Search for Everything , the setlist possibilities were endless, adding a further sense of excitement to this tour. With this in mind, and as a fan of Mayer’s earlier work, I attended all three UK shows with the hope of hearing more rarities from his debut album Room for Squares and its follow-up release, Heavier Things to balance out his more recent material. The first of these shows at the O2 was solid; the overall performance showcased a decent mix of Mayer’s back catalogue, though the rarities ...

I’m pretty much a newcomer to the music of Steven Wilson. Though familiar with a few tracks from his former band Porcupine Tree, it’s only in the past few months that I have begun to explore his solo work, starting with latest release To the Bone and working backwards through his catalogue. I therefore attended Wilson’s recent gig at the Copenhagen Opera House as very much a casual fan looking to expand my ear on more of his music, in addition to hearing how the songs that I was familiar with, would transpire to the beautiful live setting of the Opera House. This gig was one of the final dates in support of To the Bone , an album which, while – as typical of Wilson – is dark lyrically, is not as conceptual as previous releases Hand. Cannot. Erase and The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) . Musically, To the Bone takes a more mainstream pop/rock direction – a perhaps brave departure from the prog rock genre that Wilson is renowned for. The set began with a short fil...