John Mayer Premieres Acoustic ‘Assassin’ In Pittsburgh

John Mayer performed his song “Assassin” on solo acoustic guitar during his show last night in Pittsburgh. The rarely played arrangement came in response to a fan holding up a sign requesting the song.

Mayer’s show followed the typical format of his current Sob Rock Tour, beginning with a full band set, followed by a short solo acoustic set and another full band set. A total of five songs from Sob Rock, the Dead & Company guitarist’s 2021 solo album, was played at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The album’s single “Last Train Home” opened the first full band set, while fellow album cut “I Guess I Just Feel Like” kicked off the second full band set.

The opening set also saw the Sob Rock selection “Shot in the Dark,” while “Til the Right One Comes” with its usual “You Can Call Me Al” interpolation landed in the second band set. Mayer called up the Sob Rock song “New Light” for the evening’s encore. Other Mayer favorites making Thursday’s setlist included “Waitin’ on the Day,” “Stop This Train,” “Your Body Is A Wonderland” and “Gravity,” among others.

While alone on stage for the mini-acoustic set, Mayer began pointing at signs with song requests held up by fans in the audience, revealing that if a requested song was in standard tuning, he would honor the pick. One lucky fan holding up a sign with “Assassin” prompted Mayer to play an acoustic version of the Battle Studies song, which he indicated he had “never done before.”

“First time I’ve ever done that,” Mayer reiterated at the end of the song.

In March, Mayer and his band performed “Assassin” at a Sob Rock Tour stop in Los Angeles, which was his first time playing the song in 12 years. Watch audience-shot video of the acoustic performance of “Assassin” last night in Pittsburgh below: