John Mayer Trio tears up Tempe Music Festival

John Mayer, we hardly knew ye.

After building his reputation as a pop idol singer/songwriter earlier in the decade, Mayer has completely made himself over - starting with his Trio's 2005 live disc "Try!" - as a blues/rock guitar hero of prodigious chops and a gritty, soulful vocalist.

Backed by studio legends Steve Jordan on drums and bassist Pino Palladino

(who also performed with Jeff Beck, the night before), Mayer and his band

seem intent on channeling the great power trios of the past, such as Cream

and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, and Mayer proves himself to be

more than capable of fleshing out the sparse sound with his blistering

guitar work.

Kicking off with "Everyday I Have the Blues," Mayer, dressed casually in

jeans, sneakers and a blackT-shirt, put his Fender Stratocaster through its paces, whipping up a melange of fingerstyle blues a la the late great Howlin' Wolf's guitarist Hubert Sumlin, and coaxing out muscular riffs and tones that evoked Stratocaster masters Vaughan, Eric Clapton and Robin Trower.

Highlights of the set included a new song, "Waiting on the World to Change,"

from the John Mayer Trio's forthcoming disc slated for a summer release, the

Framptonesque pop of "Good Love is on the Way" and the barnburning blues of "Who Did You Think I Was."

While fans hoping that Mayer would bust out his breakthrough pop hit "Your

Body is a Wonderland" might have been disappointed by the omission, the

cheers from the large crowd told Mayer all was forgiven as he wrapped up his

impressive set with his Grammy winning "Daughters" and the heavy rocker "Try."

This year's two-day festival at Tempe Beach Park featured a variety of

alternative rock acts and, due to Scottsdale-based Fender celebrating its

60th anniversary as a leading guitar company, a bevy of guitar greats were

on hand, most notably Jeff Beck and Eric Johnson on Friday night, with John

Mayer and his trio closing the event the next day.

On Saturday's side stage, alternative pop/punks Alien Ant Farm and Lit both

delivered energetic sets worthy of the main stage, where G. Love and Special Sauce and Train both played mellower sets before the John Mayer Trio took the stage.

G. Love and Special Sauce played their patented bluesy, folk hip/hop mash

ups as the sun was setting, then Train took the stage and played a set of their middle-of-the-road alternative rock that included the crowd pleasing hits "Meet Virginia" and "Drops of Jupiter."

While past Tempe Music Festivals have been plagued by a combination of

C-list acts and bad weather, this year's shows upped the ante with several

quality bands and, judging by the large, enthusiastic crowd at Saturday's

concert, it looks as though the Tempe Music Festival is becoming a must-see

annual event.

John Mayer Trio set list:

Every Day I Have the Blues

Wait Until Tomorrow

Good Love is on the Way

I Don't Need No Doctor

Vultures

I Got a Woman

Gravity

Waiting on the World to Change

I'm Quitting You

Something's Missing

Who Did You Think I Was

Encore:

Daughters

Try

Every Day I Have the Blues (Reprise)