Hold on. We might die.

There are few things in life that please me as much as hearing The Mayer play live. He is one of my life's great loves. His music whispers to my soul. I'm on a Mayer high and I'm not sure I want to come down.

8:15 am, Wednesday morning rolled around quick (considering I procrastinated packing until the wee small hours as usual). I pulled up at Tib's house just in time to see her kids emerging in their PJs for the quick jaunt to the airport. After waiting what felt like hours to de-ice the plane, we were off, and a short 2 hours and 3 minutes, we landed at SEA-TAC. We got our rental car and swiftly headed up to Broadway for a Dick's Burger (totally kicked In and Out's ass), did some shopping downtown, and headed out to Tib's parents to get ready for our Mayer experience number 1.

We got to the Key Arena in Seattle, procured our souvenir tour t-shirts, found our seats (on the floor, row AA28) and waited. We got there an hour early. Thanks to a Ticketmaster glitch, we thought the show started at 7, when indeed it started at 8. No matter - it just gave us an extra few minutes to sweat out the anticipation (it really had been TOO LONG since I witnessed the Mayer in all his LIVE glory).

Michael Franti and Spearhead opened - not my favorite, but they did a great job elevating the energy and engaging the audience. Dirty hippies make the best openers. I was ready for them to be done long before they were - I was seriously pissing my pants with anxious anticipation. Following Franti's set, the crew set to work (not quickly enough) preparing the stage for the main event. And seriously, I don't think any crew has ever worked slower.

Finally, the lights went out and the crowd went wild. I don't think my heart has ever beat that fast - I had researched the prior shows and I knew what I was in store for in the coming moments. He opened with Heartbreak Warfare, easily one of my favorites from Battle Studies. I could not believe how amped I was! But, again, as I said earlier, there are few things in life that please me more than listening to Mayer live.

The rest of the set was fantastic. With one exception - not many "talkies." Mayer always has some great anecdotes and musings to accompany his music, and those talkies were distinctly missing from the evening's performance. As we all know, the Mayer has had a helluva year thusfar, sticking his foot in his mouth more times than I care to acknowledge. I pictured a very one-sided conversation between Mayer and his publicist before the show to go something like this:

"John, you better be careful tonight, because if you open your mouth and embarrass yourself or me one more time, I might just castrate you."

I was a wee bit disappointed at the absence of talkies, but the music was phenomenal - just as it always is. I won't go in depth with the set list, but rest assured, Tib's always got my back, keeping immaculate records, and has documented the whole night with photo and video. He included an amazing 4-5 song sub-set of pure acoustic bliss - it is seriously Mayer at his finest. I think my favorite song of the night was a toss up between Assassins or Half of My Heart. These two were definitely not my immediate favorites on the album, but performed live, they were BOSS! Assassins was definitely more intense on stage than on the album, and included a bitchin' guitar solo mid-stream. Half of My Heart, I've decided, is another of my life's theme songs. Performed live (sans T-Swift), I fell in love.

Great show. Definitely worth every penny and ounce of effort I put in.

Stay tuned...the great international Mayer experience coming soon :)