Everything you’ve heard about John Mayer is absolutely true! Ever since releasing his debut album, Room For Squares, in October, the buzz around him has grown into quite a noise. Before even having a video, his album was well on its way to becoming gold (which it did just recently). Before a packed house at Mississippi Nights, Mayer displayed why he has garnered such adoration.

The crowd that night was surprisingly eclectic, ranging from 12-year-old girls to 50-year-old men. The only common characteristic among them is an intense love of John Mayer, and a general disinterest in any opening act. This task of opening for Mayer fell onto the shoulders of Mike Doughty, former singer/guitarist/songwriter of Soul Coughing.

Armed only with a collection of acoustic guitars, Doughty made a concerted effort to “rock” us.

This proved to be an impossible task with an audience so apathetic to the performer that the background chatter among the crowd was sometimes louder than the PA system.

The only time the crowd really got into the set was when Doughty played Soul Coughing’s hit song “Circles,” replete with samples from “Closing Time” and “Call Me Al.” In the end, Doughty less ended his set than gave up on the audience and left.

Then the crowd waited and waited. In fact, Mayer didn’t hit the stage until about 10:15 p.m.- late considering some of the audience had been waiting outside the venue since 6 p.m. All was forgiven, though, with the opening number, “Why Georgia.” The crowd immediately started jumping around and singing along. This continued on into “My Stupid Mouth.”

Mayer then replaced the acoustic guitar he had been playing with a shiny electric guitar and proceeded to play a blistering version of “Back to You.” Watching Mayer play guitar is like watching someone fulfill his lifelong dream: He had the guitar swaying back and forth like an early Pete Townshend; his facial expressions seemed straight out of rock photos of Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton. He had become his idols, and we all knew it.

The acoustic guitar returned for a fun version of “83.” For this song, Mayer did the double duty of playing acoustic guitar and playing the keyboard solo off to the side of the stage. And what song about 1983 would be complete without samples from “Let’s Hear it for the Boys” and “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”? Mayer certainly doesn’t know, as he sang both songs within the bridge.

His backing band then left the stage as Mayer was left for a solo version of the Police’s “Message in a Bottle.” Sting would have been proud. He then followed this with a talk on love.

During this talk about love, and finding love, and all the jumbly emotions that go along with love, he teased the audience with excerpts from The Backstreet Boys’ “I Want it That Way.” His bassist then returned to the stage to help Mayer play a jumping version of “A Love Song for No One.”

The crowd then exploded with excitement with the full band returning for “No Such Thing.” In the all-ages section in front, the crowd undulated up and down in the club like a small ocean.

This energy flowed between Mayer and the ocean, creating new levels of intensity for each other. It was overpowering.

Mayer then played the first few lines of “Your Body is a Wonderland,” and the entire female contingency sighed in unison. At this point, if he had asked the audience to make out with the person next to them, there would have been no hesitation. The only song that was less than spectacular was the closing number, “Neon.”

This was mainly because it involved a long and tiring jam session, complete with a drum solo. This was interrupted when someone in the front section fainted and needed help exiting the tightly bunched crowd. (What do you expect from standing shoulder to shoulder with several hundred other people for more that three hours?)

Mayer did return for an encore, first playing a solo version of “3×5,” and then the full band returned for some new material I had never heard. Still, some of the crowd sang along to it, so it must be out somewhere.

If you’ve never heard of John Mayer, change that immediately. Odds are there will be at least one person in your hall who has his cd and loves it.