John Mayer Pauses Los Angeles Concert to Help Distressed Fan

Kirsten Chuba
·2 min read
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In his first official show back since the coronavirus pandemic began, John Mayer interrupted his performance halfway through to check on a distressed fan.

About an hour into his show at the Hollywood Palladium on Wednesday night, in the middle of hit “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room,” Mayer cut the music when he saw an audience member who appeared to have fainted and required medical attention.

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“Stop the show. Are they conscious?” the musician called out from the stage, as his backup band also stepped in to help. The crowd quickly made room for medical personnel as Mayer said: “They’re conscious. Give me a thumbs-up if they’re alert.”

As the fan was treated and escorted out in a wheelchair, Mayer and his band left the stage for about five minutes. When they returned, he announced: “Anyone in the crowd who’s worried, I’m told that she’s up and waved goodbye, so she’s OK. The system works, thank you very much.”

Since Travis Scott’s Astroworld music festival in November, when 10 crowd members lost their lives in a massive crowd surge, artists have been under greater pressure to keep an eye on fan safety from the stage. The situation in Los Angeles, though, was quickly addressed, and Mayer went on to play another 30 minutes at the show, which is a part of SiriusXM and Pandora’s Small Stage Series.

After an introduction by close friend Andy Cohen, who promised “Johnny Mayer is going to take us home,” Mayer performed a wide range of hits and songs from Sob Rock, his latest album that dropped in July. Cohen will also sit down with Mayer for an interview that will air on SiriusXM and Pandora LIVE alongside the concert. The event is loosely tied to the Super Bowl. Mayer teased that because of licensing and trademark restrictions, “they will fine me a billion dollars if I say the name of the big game. But enjoy the big game. I will say this game is superb, it’s a superb game,” before he jokingly yelled out “Super Bowl! Come after me!”

On a more serious note, Mayer expressed his gratitude to the hundreds of fans (including celebs Heidi Klum, Olivia Culpo, Vanessa Hudgens and Macy Gray) for coming to the concert. “After a couple of years, so many changes and so many new things to watch and read and listen to and play, that you still come out and see this show, it means a lot,” he said.

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