Review: Rock star John Mayer wins over St. Paul crowd with conviction, personality and acoustic tunes

All of John Mayer's exes live in his songs or in gossip columns. Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, among others. He knows the score. That's why he's called himself "America's ex-boyfriend."

It must be lonely being Mayer these days, even though he's been named "Sexiest Singer Alive" by Glamour magazine for the second consecutive year.

There he was Saturday all by his lonesome self on stage at Xcel Energy Center, looking tall, dark and poetic in his checked shirt, jeans and untamed Hollywood hair. Onstage with him were just a couple of guitars, a harmonica rack and a baby grand piano. No band. No bestie Andy Cohen waiting in the wings to gush in unison over the Grateful Dead.

Hitting a mid-career refresh, Mayer, 45, is in the midst of his first solo acoustic tour of arenas before he hits the road one last time in May with Dead & Company, his much-praised, part-time group that started in 2015 and includes former Dead members.

On Saturday, Mayer's solo acoustic format gave the rock star the freedom to cherry-pick from his catalog of eight studio albums (including deep tracks like "Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967" on a 12-string resonator guitar), accommodate requests from fans' signs and toss in a cover (he declined to play Prince but did perform Tom Petty's "Free Fallin' ").

Despite disappointing some sign holders, Mayer delivered a two-hour, audience-pleasing concert filled with personality and conviction but lacking guitar heroics from a guitar hero.

He played a compelling acoustic run at the end of "Shot in the Dark" and switched to electric guitar for an expressive but economical blues solo on "All I Want Is to Be With You" and an invigorating passage during "Changing," which started as a simple-as-Mr.-Rogers piano ballad.

Other than that, the seven-time Grammy winner was mostly an acoustic strummer, which added a certain intimacy to this fireside-like performance in an oversized living room on a snow-covered night.

Part of what made Xcel feel so cozy was that Mayer seemed present and refreshed, free of the rigors of a highly choreographed arena tour. He didn't have to stick to a set list that the band and lighting crew rehearsed. He was free to throw in a song he said he'd never played live before (probably titled "In the Neighborhood"), and he didn't panic when he twice blanked on the words.

Between selections, Mayer was part philosopher (explaining the difference between a crowd and an audience), part guitar instructor (demonstrating notes vs. chords) and part music critic (pointing out how he retires successful songs with lost luster to the "penalty box" and how it was OK that people didn't like 2021's '80s-evoking "Sob Rock" album even if he did).

Mayer was serious and seriously funny. "I sing sincerely but dance ironically," he said before pulling "Your Body Is a Wonderland" out of the penalty box.

All the conversation and two video clips of early 2000s' interviews added spice to a set that was weighed down by ballads and mid-tempo tunes that are sometimes sentimental, sometimes sad and occasionally sappy. That's because when it comes to his sensitive easy-listening radio favorites, Mayer is to Gen X what James Taylor is to baby boomers and Ed Sheeran to Gen Z.

Whether seated or standing, playing six-, 12-string or double-neck acoustic guitar, Mayer sang with eyes closed, grimacing with passion. With that kind of commitment to his songs and solo excursion, the 13,000 people at the X wouldn't let him feel lonely.