John Mayer put on an entertaining show Wednesday night at the Roanoke Civic Center before 7,000 well-mannered fans who …

Oh, crapola. Who am I trying to kid? Judging by the number of cellphones with video capabilities, y'all have already seen Mayer's entire concert on YouTube by now, so why bother with a review?

Sure, I could tell you that Mayer came to town on a Grammy-generated wave of publicity. He's up for five awards on Sunday. He played for two nearly hours. He played “Bigger Than My Body” as an encore. Jessica Simpson didn't show. What else do you want to know?

What the cell-vids won't tell you is that it's been five years since Mayer played the Roanoke Valley . Back in 2002, he was a young Dave Matthews wannabe just happy to play Roanoke College 's Alumni Gym. Today, the 29-year-old singer and guitarist is a megastar maker of mellow music with Peter Frampton hair and a tabloid personal life. And he sells millions of records, although you wouldn't know it by the way he dresses.

Looking as if he just finished re-shingling his house, Mayer assumed the stage in a grayish T shirt and wrinkly jeans. That casualness makes him all the more likable and his boyish pop music palatable.

Like his attire, his show was a stripped-down affair. The only high-tech gadgetry was a backdrop of colored squares that looked like a giant Space Invaders game with a few lights out. He sang with the familiar voice that wavers between a whisper and a growl, sounding like the guy who makes radio listeners say “Is that Dave Matthews or John Mayer? Or is it Jack Johnson?”

Backed by a seven (!) musicians, Mayer opened with “Vultures” then showed his blues chops on “Good Love Is on the Way.” People forget that about Mayer. He is a terrific guitarist in that “Stevie Ray Vaughan Changed My Life” vein, but you only hear it in side projects like the John Mayer Trio or in Volkswagen commercials. You get the feeling that a guy who has sold seven million albums still might have his best music in front of him.

He played oldies like “Why Georgia” and “No Such Thing,” and mixed in new hits from the Grammy-nominated “Continuum” that included “Waiting on the World to Change” and “I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You).” He ripped through some Texas-sized solos in “Gravity,” then encored with “Your Body Is a Wonderland” and “Bigger Than My Body,” songs which really should be worked into a medley somehow. “Your Body is Bigger Than My Body” would be a nice title.

I'd even watch it on YouTube.