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John Mayer combined two very different parts of his career in an unexpected way this week, mixing his biggest solo hit with one of the Grateful Dead’s greatest psychedelic masterpieces.
“This is gonna be the weirdest thing you ever saw in your life, and I’m proud to do it,” Mayer told the crowd at the United Center in Chicago on Wednesday night.
Mayer, who played in the Grateful Dead offshoot Dead & Company, launched into an acoustic take on “Dark Star,” a Dead classic known for improvisational jams that would stretch 10-15 minutes or more.
“I want you to mark it on the setlist, that this is technically ‘Dark Star,’” he told the crowd.
But rather than take the audience into “the transitive nightfall of diamonds” of psychedelia, he took a turn into “Your Body Is A Wonderland,” the 2002 smash hit that won him a Grammy and that listeners either love, hate or love to hate.
“I did it,” he said as the audience cheered the opening bars. “I did that!”
Fans joined him for a rousing singalong on “Wonderland,” then Mayer announced some “unfinished business” and went back into an acoustic “Dark Star” to conclude the unexpected mashup.
Mayer said he did the song “with extreme love for my brothers in Dead & Company.”
The “weirdest thing” was captured from a variety of angles: