For this artist, Sphere is a wonderland.
John Mayer has set a half-dozen dates in April in his return to the Bulbous Wonder. The master musician’s “Solo + Full Band + John Mayer Trio” production runs April 8, 10, 11, 15, 17 and 18. Presale registration is available at JohnMayer.com through 10 a.m. Pacific time Oct. 7. General on-sale opens at 10 a.m. Oct. 9 at ticketmaster.com.
As the title reveals, Mayer will play an evening in three formats: The solo section features Mayer primarily on his acoustic, with electric and piano segments. The trio features Steve Jordan on drums (he has replaced Charlie Watts in the Rolling Stones) and bassist Pino Palladino (he replaced John Entwistle in The Who).
Mayer’s full band was not specified in Monday’s formal announcement, but he has previously been backed by a 10-piece outfit filled with world-class players, including Jordan and Palladino.
The 48-year-old Mayer has appeared at Sphere already, of course, in Dead & Company’s “Dead Forever: Live at Sphere” residency. That show ran for 48 performances from May 2024 to May 2025. These were some of co-founder Bob Weir’s final performances.
The psychedelia-splashed production won Pollstar’s Residency of the Year award in 2025, with Mayer designing much of the audio and video splendor behind the scenes.
“I think what we all love is that there’s finally once again a live music space race,” Mayer said in an interview in the L.A. Times. “There’s the social media space race, the podcast space race, the AI space race. But live music pretty much stayed the same for such a long time.”
At Sphere, he said, artists and fans have “more than they expected to be with this big, empty canvas and this really big palette.”
The @deadandcompany show leaves no stoner unturned … @SphereVegas @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/DSlh0gxxvw
— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) March 22, 2025
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.