John Mayer has just released his first album in four years, and to celebrate, he’s taking the new music on a tour across the United States — featuring a stop in Salt Lake City.
On Tuesday, Vivint Arena announced that Mayer will bring his “Sob Rock” tour to the venue on March 25, 2022. That month, the arena will also see performances from The Weeknd, Celine Dion, Justin Bieber and Billie Eilish.
“Sob Rock” is a homage of sorts to 1980s music — a sound that brought Mayer comfort during the pandemic, USA Today reported.
But it’s also a sound that has long influenced Mayer, whose debut album “Room for Squares” came out 20 years ago. In 2004 — on the heels of his second album “Heavier Things” that featured the hit song “Daughters” — Mayer told the Deseret News that ’80s music helped spark his interest in music.
“Whatever was on the radio and TV was what I got into,” Mayer, who was born in 1977, said at the time. “That stuff was really good. I mean with music from ‘Thriller,’ Genesis, Sting and the Police, you can’t go wrong.
“Those were the musical graduating class of 1983,” he continued. “And while there is some ’90s music that sounds good, it was the ’80s music that helped me develop a love for melody and arrangement.”
Ahead of Friday’s album release and concert tour announcement, Mayer performed the first two tracks from “Sob Rock,” “Last Train Home” and “Shouldn’t Matter But it Does,” Thursday night on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”
Tickets for Mayer’s Vivint Arena show go on sale July 23 at 11 a.m. MT and can be purchased at johnmayer.com, according to a news release sent to the Deseret News. Fans can also sign up for presale tickets, which will be on sale July 20 and July 21, via Mayer’s website.
The Grammy Award-winning artist and guitar virtuoso has performed a number of times in Utah over the years, including several performances at USANA Amphitheatre.
To view the full “Sob Rock” 2022 schedule, visit johmayer.com.