Review: A humbled John Mayer sands the rough edges at Forum show, losing the rapscallion he wants to be

There was no mistaking that John Mayer had returned to pop music.

The singer and guitarist, who spent much of the last few years pursuing rootsier, lower-key concerns, took the stage Friday night at the Forum leading his slick seven-piece band through “Belief,” from 2006’s double-platinum “Continuum” album. He was wearing stylish trousers and a pair of high-end sneakers.

And his young audience at the sold-out concert included Selena Gomez, the Weeknd and one of the dudes from 5 Seconds of Summer — none of whom I recall seeing when Mayer was on tour last year with members of the Grateful Dead.

But if this erstwhile heartthrob had clearly ended his self-imposed exile from pop — itself the reaction to a run of negative publicity that made him look like a lecherous jerk — he didn’t come back without having learned some important lessons about grace and humility.

What a shame.

Before his 2010 flameout, in which he spoke way too candidly about sex in a couple of interviews, it was precisely Mayer’s willingness to channel his most unsavory impulses that set him apart from countless sensitive-white-guy guitar-strummers.

He may have risen to stardom with the goopy early-’00s ballad “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” but in his later music Mayer came to view romance, especially among famous people, as a battlefield, and he was never afraid to depict himself as the enemy force.

Yet Mayer softened with 2012’s folky “Born and Raised” and its 2013 sequel, “Paradise Valley,” both of which he made after retreating to the wilds of Montana. In 2015 he formed Dead & Company with Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart; the idea seemed to be that the Hollywood playboy (and expert guitarist) could disappear into the Grateful Dead’s repertoire, which makes nobody think about sex.

Now, penance paid, Mayer is writing about women again: The first song on his new album, “The Search for Everything,” is a funked-up pop-soul number called “Still Feel Like Your Man,” in which he proudly informs us that “the prettiest girl in the room, she wants me.” (How does he know? “Because she told me so.”)

Other tunes on the record, which he’s said was inspired by his breakup with Katy Perry, present Mayer, 39, as a slightly older, slightly wiser version of the oily rapscallion we once knew. But even when he’s nursing his loneliness — or seeking distraction from it — he’s not trying to con us into thinking he’s just a normal guy.

On “The Search for Everything” he happily owns his pettiness and his paranoia and his inflated sense of self; in other words, he’s a pop star acting like one.

So it was discouraging at the Forum to hear Mayer announce, “I only care about you guys and if you relate” — probably the most boring goal any musician could have — and to sand the edges from sharp songs such as “Moving On and Getting Over” and “In Your Atmosphere,” which here were squishy and ingratiating.

And it was particularly troubling to see him lead the crowd through a singalong of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” as though he were a camp counselor and we were 17,000 brain-dead 12-year-olds.

“Free Fallin’” says hardly anything about Tom Petty when Petty plays it these days; Mayer’s version of the overused song expressed nothing beyond the lengths he’s willing to go to be liked — a weakness his strong new album suggests he’s put behind him.

Occasionally Friday he delivered on that promise, as in a tough-minded rendition of the slashing “Helpless” and “Still Feel Like Your Man,” which had a creeping swagger. And he seemed to show where his head is when he brought out Ryan Adams, another exceptional guitar-strummer willing to voice unseemly thoughts, for a surprise duet on Adams’ “Come Pick Me Up.”

But too much of this concert was stuck in Mayer’s old search for approval. It had the look of progress but not the feel.

mikael.wood@latimes.com

Twitter: @mikaelwood

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