AMAGANSETT, N.Y. – During what was billed as his only live performance of the summer, John Mayer paid tribute to Dolly Parton by integrating one of her most iconic songs into his encore.
The Grammy-winning musician, 48, performed with his full band on Wednesday evening at the Stephen Talkhouse in the Hamptons for SiriusXM.
His concert welcomed both contest winners and a number of VIPs, including Paul McCartney, Michael J. Fox, Christie Brinkley, Brooke Shields, New York Knicks star Josh Hart, SiriusXM host Howard Stern and Mayer's friend Andy Cohen. In addition to Cohen's duties on Bravo, the host and producer also runs the "Radio Andy" channel on SiriusXM, while Mayer leads "Life with John Mayer," a station he's curated for almost three years
on the satellite radio service.
After remarks from SiriusXM president Scott Greenstein and host Mark Zito, Cohen introduced Mayer, who performed for over 90 minutes.
The singer-songwriter touched on tracks from most of his eight studio albums, going as far back as 2006's "Continuum" and playing four songs from his last LP, 2021's "Sob Rock."
Before he closed out the concert, Mayer and his band played an interlude with the melody of Dolly Parton's 1973 classic "I Will Always Love You." Parton died on Tuesday Aug. 25 at the age of 80. Mayer took the interlude into his 2006 hit "Gravity."
"I want to sincerely thank you for having so much excitement and enthusiasm to see me play," Mayer told the audience, grateful for the loyalty of his fans despite not releasing an album in five years. "In the time that I last put music out, you seem to have even become more involved [with the songs] in your life.
"I wasn't aware that dream was even available," he continued. "So thank you for keeping this music going when I wasn't playing."
John Mayer riffed on radio bits, food delivery during concert
After opening with "Last Train Home" from "Sob Rock," Mayer joked that his voice wouldn't sound the same as it does when he's heard on his SiriusXM channel. The musician interwove comedy throughout the show, including a bit about the texts he and his team received for tickets to the exclusive performance, saying that many of them started with the phrase "any chance."
"You 'any chanced' your way right into this show tonight," he said as the crowd cheered. The concert took place in the back parking lot of the Stephen Talkhouse, affording the audience more space than inside the intimate 200-person venue.
Despite the relatively-small crowd to Mayer's typical shows and the artist's decades of performing, he told the audience he still gets nervous at the start of concerts and subsequently will perform with his eyes closed.
"When I started my career, I was playing South by Southwest and all of the [record] labels came out to see me," Mayer recalled. "True story, they thought I was blind."
The musician also shouted out Uber, a sponsor of the concert. That led to Mayer's thoughts on food delivery. He says a $40 tip "for coming to visit my lazy ass" is standard for his orders, regardless of what he purchased.
"It doesn't matter what you got on the floorboard, the drive is the same," Mayer explained, "whether it's a cup of coffee" or sushi, Mayer's tip goes unchanged.
Exclusive: Inside SiriusXM's John Mayer afterparty
SiriusXM held an afterparty for the concert at Moby's, an Italian restaurant about a mile away from Stephen Talkhouse in East Hampton.
Many of the celebrities in attendance at the show appeared at the party, dining on homemade pizza, tuna tartare and Caprese salads. The full bar service featured a dedicated martini station and dessert included an ice cream truck and frozen yogurt.
There was also a live show at the restaurant, albeit for only a select few people.
USA TODAY learned that mentalist Oz Pearlman performed in front of Mayer and a handful of onlookers, who left astonished at the trick that Pearlman pulled off. The appearance punctuates a busy summer for the mentalist, which has also included the filming of a Netflix special, a skit at the ESPYs and a performance at the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: John Mayer pays tribute to Dolly Parton at exclusive SiriusXM concert
