John Mayer has some odd ideas for opening acts on his just finalized fall tour.

"I was thinking I'd bring Clay Aiken out," a pokerfaced Mayer said recently.

As he does often, Mayer was being sarcastic. Although openers for the 20-date outing, which kicks off October 31 in State College, Pennsylvania, have yet to be announced, Mayer fans can assume the bands will be there for a reason.

"I want to be eclectic," Mayer said. "I just want to put stuff out that I think is gonna be fun, and I want there to be a connection between the opener and my CD collection. I don't want it to be like, 'Find somebody.' I want it to be like, 'Oh, if John says it's cool, maybe I should check it out.' "

Such was the case on Mayer's last tour, where he and co-headliners Counting Crows introduced the now-thriving Maroon 5 to America (see "Tattooed, Request-Line-Ringing Fans Afford Maroon 5 Another Video").

"I see people get up onstage and they kick ass and everyone else is talking, but if they opened for me, people would be like, 'OK, let's see what this is about,' " Mayer explained. "Not to say I have chimps for fans — 'They'll eat anything!' — no, I don't, I have really smart fans and so when I say, 'Check this band out,' they come early. I've noticed venues being really full for the first act, so that shows a good bit of faith, which I like."

And Mayer always returns the favor. On his fall tour he shows faith in his fans by performing most of the songs from Heavier Things for the first time (see "John Mayer Plugs In For Nookie, Thanks Kid Rock For Cramping His Style") — something even some veteran acts shy away from for fear of disappointing audiences wanting to hear tried-and-true material.

Mayer played one or two new tracks over the summer, but mostly avoided them because he encourages bootlegging and did not want the new songs out (see "John Mayer, Counting Crows Bring 45-Degree Metal To Los Angeles").

"You can't stop a person from listening to a song that's available, but you can stop making it available," he said. "I think sometimes the listener doesn't know what they don't want to listen to yet. You kind of have to make that decision. Trust me, you don't want 'Clarity' yet. You want the first time to be on a record, not onstage when I mess the second line up and that's what you have to listen to over and over again."

While Mayer will certainly focus on Heavier Things, which will top the Billboard albums chart next week, he will not abandon the tunes from Room for Squares that have made him a household name.

"With a new record my old new songs are old songs, and so I get to sing those in a new way if I want to," Mayer said, as if there were rules on the subject. "No one's going to get offended if I change the vocal line or something, because I have a feeling that we've all heard it so many times we could probably use it, you know?

"I mean, I won't change it to the point where someone who comes looks at their friend and goes, 'This wasn't on the CD. This wasn't what I paid money to come see,' " he continued. "Just enough to remind myself and other people that I'm not brain-dead, I'm not like a monkey trained to sing these songs. I can actually leave the motif a little bit."

One of the ways Mayer will change around his older material is by inserting bits of other classics into them, like he has done in the past with Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and Deniece Williams' "Let's Hear It for the Boy."

"Rather than take a whole song up on a set to butcher someone else's song, I'd rather play my own stuff and throw a line in just to make someone go, 'Huh?' Or should I say, 'Wha?,' and it works," Mayer explained. "My voice isn't really good for covers. I had a choice when I first started out playing music as to whether or not I wanted to play my own music or covers. I kind of feel like I chose wisely."

John Mayer tour dates, according to his spokesperson:

  • 10/31 - State College, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center
  • 11/1 - Rochester, NY @ Blue Cross Arena
  • 11/3 - London, ON @ John Labatt Centre
  • 11/4 - Ottawa, ON @ Corel Center
  • 11/5 - Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
  • 11/7 - Champaign, IL @ Assembly Hall
  • 11/8 - Ames, IA @ Hilton Coliseum
  • 11/9 - Iowa City, IA @ Carver-Hawkeye Arena
  • 11/11- Columbia, MO @ Hearnes Center
  • 11/12 - Omaha, NE @ Qwest Center Omaha
  • 11/14 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Cox Business Services Convention Center
  • 11/15 - North Little Rock, AR @ Alltel Arena
  • 11/16 - Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center
  • 11/18 - Tallahassee, FL @ Leon County Civic Center
  • 11/19 - Birmingham, AL @ Birmingham Jefferson Arena
  • 11/21 - Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
  • 11/23 - Richmond, VA @ Richmond Coliseum
  • 11/24 - New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
  • 11/26 - Baltimore, MD @ 1st Mariner Arena
  • 11/28 - Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena