Guitarist-singer John Mayer’s announcement of a new tour and album the week of the Michigan primary – with three April stops in the Great Lakes State, including an April 12 show at Grand Rapids’ DeVos Performance Hall – had a distinct “campaign” flavor.
Not only is Mayer stumping for a new studio album, “Born and Raised” — with a brand new almost-country-flavored song, “Shadow Days,” that you can stream live here – but he also has a cause to promote: The Northern California Institute of Research and Education (NCIRE), which offers military veterans a healthy reintegration into civilian life to help heal their battle scars.
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Tickets for his April 12 concert — $51, $76 and $86 – go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at the DeVos Place and Van Andel Arena box offices and through Ticketmaster.
Fans can support Mayer’s cause by buying third-row orchestra seats at a premium price exclusively through Tickets-For-Charity, with proceeds going to Mayer/NCIRE programs. For details, go to www.ticketsforcharity.com/johnmayer. Fans also can go to http://celebrity.ebay.com/john-mayer, to bid on four front-row tickets that include meet-and-greet passes, with proceeds also going to the cause. That’s like getting a chance to press the flesh of the musical candidate, right?
By the way, Mayer’s campaign also takes him April 10 to the Wharton Center in East Lansing and April 14 to the Fox Theatre in Detroit.
Mayer, who’s won an astonishing seven Grammy Awards and he’s about to release just his fifth studio album (produced by Michigander Don Was), will tour with a revamped band that includes Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell, bassist Sean Hurley, drummer Aaron Sterling, guitarists David Ryan Harris and Doug Pettibone, and percussionist Michito Sanchez.
With today’s Republican primary voting already under way across Michigan, it struck me that folks will never hear one of Mayer’s biggest hits, “Waiting on the World to Change,” embraced by a candidate as a theme song:
“Now we see everything that’s going wrong with the world and those who lead it, we just feel like we don’t have the means to rise above and beat it, so we keep waiting, waiting on the world to change.”
It’s not exactly the proactive message candidates want to tout to voters, unlike Michigander Kid Rock’s “Born Free” or Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop.”
Here are other popular tunes that you’ll never see used in campaign soundtracks:
“Elected,” Alice Cooper – Unlike Mayer’s offering, of course, this is obviously TOO obvious – even though it’s precisely what every candidate is really thinking: “I’m your top prime cut of meat, I’m your choice, I wanna be elected.”
“Madman Across the Water,” Elton John – This may or may not have been written with Richard Nixon in mind, but frankly, this is what most voters really think about most presidential candidates these days.
“American Idiot,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” Green Day – Brilliant songs, but campaign fodder only if used in commercials slamming the opposing candidate.
“Ohio,” Crosby Stills Nash & Young – Although it’s as political (and powerful) as any rock song of the baby boomer era, this is probably not imagery (“four dead in Ohio”) that candidates want to instill in voters’ minds. David Crosby and Graham Nash, by the way, are guest vocalists on the title track for Mayer’s new album.
“Public Enemy No. 1,” Megadeth – See “American Idiot” above.
“Moves Like Jagger,” Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera – With this slate of candidates? Puh-leez.
Email: jsinkevics@gmail.com