Inside John Mayer’s Private Concert to Benefit New Study Into Veteran Sleep: ‘Science Will Eventually Catch All of These Wounds’

John Mayer gathered a lucky few people into a Henson Recording Studios soundstage in Hollywood on Thursday night (Sept. 18) in hopes of bettering the lives of countless veterans.

Around 100 supporters and vets attended the private concert benefiting Mayer’s Heart and Armor Foundation for Veterans Health, which served as the launch for a new campaign to support University of California, San Francisco’s research into the role of sleep in veteran health.

“Heart and Armor is heavily scientific, but it is emotional and comprehensible as well,” Mayer says of the foundation he helped launch in 2019 to support the health of veterans of war. “The humanity behind the statistics is difficult and touching. Science will eventually catch all of these wounds – PTSD, insomnia, traumatic brain injuries. They don’t have to last forever. We have shown that we can accelerate the good work of some of the best minds on earth to advance healthcare for a generation of veterans.”

Before his 11-song concert, Mayer joined a panel of experts to discuss the importance of sleep when it comes to veteran health — with Heart and Armor saying 60% of vets struggle with sleep problems (three times the rate for non-veterans) and that the number jumps to 93% for vets who struggle with PTSD. Sleep struggles are also linked to heart disease, neurodegeneration and mental health challenges, according to Heart and Armor.

“Sleep is one of the most critical issues impacting veteran health,” said Gerard Choucroun, Heart and Armor Foundation’s executive director. “With this campaign, we’re investing in research that will improve veterans health, wellness, and lives in the short-term and for many years ahead.”

Mayer played two of his biggest Billboard Hot 100 hits during the jammy set — 2006’s “Waiting on the World to Change” (No. 14 peak) and 2009’s “Who Says” (No. 17) — as well as four songs from his most recent album, 2021’s Sob Rock: “Last Train Home,” “I Guess I Just Feel Like,” “Wild Blue” and “New Light.”

When he intro’d that last one — the most upbeat song of the night — Mayer let everyone know he would be dancing along and they should too. That got the to-that-point mostly seated crowd out of their chairs and gathered at the front of the stage for an impromptu dance party. The energy continued for the final song of the night, the 2006 fan favorite “Gravity,” as the crowd swayed together, some arm-in-arm.

“I’ve heard some incredible things said to me and heard things said to others, by others, that really restored a lot of faith in me tonight, so thank you very much for being here,” Mayer said ahead of “Gravity” to the intimate crowd, which included director McG — with whom Mayer bought the Henson Recording Studios lot last year — as well as Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath.

Also during the concert, Mayer noted that, after playing with Dead & Company for 2024 and 2025 residencies at the Las Vegas Sphere, some of his solo songs were “going by very quickly,” calling his own tracks “fun-size” in comparison to the Dead’s never-ending jams.

Next up for Mayer: He’ll open for Zach Bryan on Sept. 27 when he plays the first-ever concert at Ann Arbor’s Michigan Stadium, the United States’ largest venue at a whopping 107,601 capacity — so just a few more people than he played for on Thursday night.

Find the full setlist for John Mayer’s private Heart and Armor concert below:

Queen of California
Last Train Home
Who Says
Love on the Weekend
Belief
I Guess I Just Feel Like
Waiting on the World to Change
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
Wild Blue
New Light
Gravity