The slow smile that spread over John Mayer’s face matched neither the frantic movement of his hands over the acoustic guitar nor the bursts of energy that sent his legs pumping and his head bobbing.
Nor did it fully register the cheers of the crowd packed into the House of Blues on Friday night to listen and sing along to his blues-tinged melodies.
Tall, lanky and endowed with a rich, textured voice reminiscent of Dave Matthews and Sting, the up-and-coming musician proved that he could hold his own in his 1-and-1/2 hour-long set.
After opening with three up-tempo numbers, Mayer mellowed into what seemed like a more comfortable fit: slower melodies that highlighted his guitar skills and frank, fresh lyrics, combining material from his recent CD “Room for Squares” with older pieces.
Weinberg sophomore Brian Miller said that he has been listening to Mayer for about six months since discovering him on awaremusic.com, a website dedicated to promoting emerging artists. Miller and friends spent the night swapping information and criticism. Miller said his favorite of the evening was crowd-pleaser “Your Body is a Wonderland,” a soft, seductive song, for which Mayer picked up an electric guitar.
“He really enjoys the piece and believes in his words,” Miller said.
But after crooning about the porcelain skin of a lover, Mayer broke into a jam session with bassist David LaBruyere, his only accompaniment, mixing up his sound before more macho audience members could be turned off.
Though Mayer has the potential to be known simply for love songs like “Comfortable,” a song that sent female attendees nearly to tears, pieces like “Why Georgia” and “Neon” capture a restlessness that appeals to young listeners.
Mayer also kept things lively by peppering the show with a good sense of humor, from sampling Madonna tunes to joking about doing laundry.
“This is the first time in a long time everything you see on me is clean,” Mayer quipped, as audience members showered the stage with clean pairs of socks.
Mayer, a Connecticut native, hit the music scene after quitting Boston’s Berklee College of Music and moving to Atlanta in 1998. He grew up listening to pop, but was introduced to jazz at age 13. Two years later he was performing in blues bars. He released an album, “Inside Wants Out,” in 1999.
Miller said the House of Blues was a good venue for Mayer, whose music, not backed by a band, works best in a intimate setting.
“I would go see him again in a second,” Miller said.
