John Mayer benefit

THE RETURN OF JOHN MAYER: Singer-songwriter John Mayer performed his first live set in two years last night--at the Emerson Theater in Bozeman, Montana. The occasion was a benefit, which he also organized and hosted, for the hundreds of firefighters who took on last summer's Pine Creek Fire. That blaze raged over 8,500-plus acres in and around the nearby town of Livingston, close to where Mayer owns a home. The evening has raised more than $100,000 to aid these brave first responders. Without their tireless efforts, said Mayer, who's been forced to take an extended hiatus as a result of a recurring throat granuloma, "many more homes and memories would have been destroyed, mine among them." Appearing onstage with Zac Brown and Clay Cook of the Zac Brown Band, The Grammy winner played a short set largely drawn from his most recent album, 2012's Born and Raised (Columbia). "The Livingston Town Proper: A Concert to Benefit the Fighters of the Pine Creek Fire" also featured performances by David Ryan Harris, Sean Hurley, Aaron Sterling, Ben Bullington and Lil Jane & The Pistol Whips. The Park County Community Foundation established the Pine Creek Fire Relief Fund to disburse proceeds to area volunteer and city fire departments. (1/17p)