Mayer pumps up the volume for Staples

When the kind of soft rock delivered by such singers as John Mayer, Norah Jones and Jack Johnson catches on, the phenomenon is usually attributed to an audience’s need for relief from the prevailing tensions and angst of the real world, and by extension from music that reflects that world.

If so, Mayer has certainly caught a ride on that wave. The Connecticut-bred, Atlanta-based singer-songwriter’s major-label debut album, “Room for Squares,” has sold 3 million copies, making him second only to Jones among pop’s recent rookies, and now he’s headlining arenas and amphitheaters, including Staples Center, where he played Thursday, and Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, where he was set to perform Friday.

So here is the reigning symbol of clean-cut, white-bread pop, an artist with collegiate heartthrob looks who steers well clear of the garage where all that noisy underground stuff is coming from. It might not quite be penthouse pop, but it’s a pretty nice pad. No grime. No monsters under the bed, no skeletons in the closet. Comfort food in the kitchen.

How do you put Mayer’s brand of understated, intimate music into an arena? His answer at Staples: You don’t. You change it. Mayer’s signature vocal style -- husky but breathy, interspersed with falsetto -- might survive in a tiny coffeehouse or small club, but it would be too intimate to reach very far into an arena.

Mayer, playing guitar and backed by bass, drums and guitar, responded by putting more force into the singing, replacing his trademark with something more aggressive but anonymous. Still, it wasn’t a bad trade-off for anyone who finds Mayer’s recordings wispy to the point of invisibility.

The earnest coming-of-age questions and contemplations about life and love in such hits as “No Such Thing” and “Your Body Is a Wonderland” carry a sense of discovery and a certain trembling uncertainty, but their impact tends to be neutralized or disguised by the music’s blandness.

At Staples, Mayer and his band maintained a small-combo feel but gave everything more of a charge, including a showy but ill-fitting blues-rock guitar solo from Mayer. A couple of songs from his upcoming album suggested a move toward more musical complexity and reach. We’ll find out in September whether it will be enough of a move to turn Mayer into a compelling artist

Some kind of personal charm would have been a nice addition to the live package, but Mayer was a low-temperature stage personality, adding an oddly off-putting tone of self-satisfaction along with his effusive expressions of gratitude to his listeners.

Reticence wasn’t a problem for Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz, who fronted his veteran L.A. folk-rock band with the overwrought forthrightness that’s become his signature. The second-billed group’s erratic set Thursday had moments of goofy, earnest charm, along with embarrassing indulgence (not the least of which was packing the stage with friends, kids and pets at the end).

They also remain derivative, but over the years they’ve shifted their model from dreamy Van Morrison and Dylan to more driving and dramatic Springsteen. Call them the D Street Band.