John Mellencamp

Surprisingly moving and poignant. The dynamics of the band were excellent, the staging perfect, and Preacher John was bringing his heart on his sleeve like usual. Lisa Germano adds so much depth to the live sound. Goddamn great! But you still ain't got no friends homie! :)

Show was magnificent. Many grew weary of the opening montage of film scenes, but I have been a fan since he was Johnny Cougar and recognized that he was paying homage to film heroes who had shaped his persona. Intelligent and magnificent!!

What a wonderful show ❤️. John played so many hits, but there were so many more I hoped he'd play. He still has what it takes for a great show, and I would highly recommend seeing him if you get the opportunity!

John Mellencamp: 5/19/23 “When friends ask me what my all time favorite concert was my answer typically brings a look of bewilderment to their faces. It was not The Stones or The Who, Clapton or Beck, Springsteen, Dylan, or McCartney. It wasn’t even one of my my top 15 bands, but Mellencamp back in 1987. It was the timeframe where he dropped the Johnny Cougar and adopted the Americana persona with wide open stage, high energy level, long hair and reflective lyrics. The experience of that show had much to do with where I was at in life at the time: a young, long haired, white t-shirt and jeans, guitar playing rock ’n’ roll wanna be. Friday would be my second time seeing the Rock And Roll Hall Of Faming Grammy winning Hoosier LIVE. Knowing I could never recreate the first experience I stepped into the evening completely openminded. The now 71 year old singer-songwriter has amassed 25 studio albums with 29 charted singles in addition to surviving a heart attack in 1994 in addition to his second marriage’s divorce in 2011. The 78 date ‘Live And In Person Tour’ had arrived at the Peace Center in Greenville and was bound to engender a number of hits and Heartland Rock standards as well as some brand new material. My seats were balcony first row direct center obtained on the presale. The stage was concealed via a blank screen and black curtain combination exposing only the seven front monitors and two guitar pedal boards until showtime. At 8 p.m. a combination of classic black and white film clips interwoven with Mellencamp interviews rolled on the screen. Turns out the chosen clips had been inspirations for lyrics of some of his best known songs. As each reel progressed into the other beginning with ’The Fugitive Kind’, then ‘The Misfits’, ‘Giant’, ‘Grapes Of Wrath’, ‘Hud’, and ‘On The Waterfront’ the natives began getting restless. By now a full half hour had passed and shouts erupted from various pockets in the audience, ‘Let’s Go’, ’Stop’ and ‘Boo’. At last during ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ the lights went down to the wail of sirens and a drum roll with flashing red lights coming from the stage wings. The screen lifted revealing the set, it was a backdrop of Street Car Named Desire’s Kowalski’s New Orleans apartment. There were life-sized mannequins of the motion picture’s four major characters with large amber-hued spot lamps, some standing some suspended with Edison bulbs providing ambiance stag-wide. Vintage mic’d Fender amps on the floor ran across the stage tilted upward. Fiddle and accordion with keyboards were on the left, guitar and bass to the right. The drum kit was set center stage with the words ‘JOHN MELLENCAMP Bloomington Indiana’ on the drumhead. There were no video screens. John gets an ‘’A+’ for creativity on the set! At precisely 8:30 John took the stage and the concert kicked off into what would be an hour and fifty-five minute eighteen song set divided into three parts beginning with his 2008 unreleased as a single ‘John Cockers’. The symbolism of the movie’s backdrop set-up a metaphor for the human condition and the power of desire as the driving force behind the characters' action. The order of the setlist would reveal it’s meaning to a contemplative and constructive thinker such as myself. Railroading through the next three hits #’9 ‘Paper And Fire’, #14 ‘Minutes To Memories’, and #6 ‘Small Town’ his all familiar voice displayed somewhat more rasp than in years gone by but by no means lacked any of it’s original steaming drive. Moving about in his familiar hustle he chewed gum, cussed, slapped hands with audience members, and when he got out onto the stage right wing everyone in the orchestra section stood for the rest of the evening. It was at that point I was especially grateful for my handpicked balcony front seat! John’s electric guitar of choice was a butterscotch Telecaster while Mike played a gorgeous mint green mando-guitar reproducing the Americana era sound album-perfect with a little help from the Appalachian fiddle. In fact, eight of his twenty songs were from the Americana trio of albums (’85-’90). He finally addressed the audience. ‘Now we came all the way from Bloomington Indiana to play for you tonight. So just to let you know what you got in store for you we’re going some songs you know, some songs you don’t know, some songs you can sing along with, some songs you can dance to, and some songs maybe that will will help you—might make you think a little bit. By the end of the evening the goal is for all of us to come together and create a nice beautiful community of music and have fun.’ A pair of #48’s followed ‘Human Wheels’ and ‘Jackie Brown’ in which guitarist Andy executed a striking performance on a stunningly brilliant dobro resonator. ‘Check It Out’ with fiddle and accordion presenting themselves musically as a single instrument plus everyone working together on harmonies rounded off the first act or mini-set. As the band set up for an acoustic set Mellencamp paused in a distinct effort to slow things down. ‘Let’s tell some stories, okay?’, and that’s exactly what he did. Introducing a song featuring himself solo on harmonica and acoustic guitar from his forthcoming release ‘The Eyes Of Portland’ a song about the plight of America’s homeless he described an experience visiting the west coast town. He had encountered a female in her early to mid-twenties who he couldn’t help but notice outside the window while dining at a high end restaurant. He walked outside to greet her inquiring of her plight and offering her money for food to which she replied, ‘Do I have to have sex with you?’ ‘I can still see her dirty bare feet, you know as she’s running down the streets of Portland and I periodically over the last five or six years have thought about her.’ It was obvious that the way he told the story resonated well with a majorly conservative South Carolina audience. The idea for the story and song which followed ‘Longest Days’ came from his grandmother’s words as she lay near death at the age of a hundred. ‘She looked at me very seriously and she said Buddy (she always called him Buddy) you’re gonna find out real soon that our lives are short even in their longest days’. A story in itself ‘Jack And Diane’ his only Billboard #1 smash was performed solo acoustic John’s guitar playing elemental and undecorated. The crowd sang along with every word but jumped the gun on the chorus, John stopped abruptly, ’No!, I, I hate to interrupt the song, songwriting is pretty simple it has verses, chorus’ and sometimes a bridge, you guys hit the first verse and jumped straight to the chorus and ‘f-off’ to the second verse. Well I’m going to play the second verse and you’ll remember it, “Suckin on chili dog.…”’ John exiting the stage a stirring spoken word recording of ‘The Real Life’ lyrics by actress Joanne Woodward accompanied by accordion and fiddle brought the acoustic set to a conclusion. With the full band back on stage John reentered stage right cigarette in hand. Taking his final drag he crushed out the stick en route to the microphone and the hits continued to pour, #21 ‘Rain On The Scarecrow’, #6 ‘Lonely Ol Night’, and #9 ‘Crumblin Down’ which transitioned into a Van Morrison classic. Mellencamp began ‘Gloria’ by introducing the instruments one by one, ‘Bring in the drums, bring in the bass, add some piano, let’s bring in some guitar, add Lisa (fiddle).’ Pink Houses’ and ‘Cherry Bomb’ followed with band introductions in between. It was obvious all evening that his six person band’s primary purpose was to showcase the singer and not necessarily their own musical ability, albeit the could have. There was Troye Kinnett on keyboards and accordion since 2006, the return of Lisa Germano 64 on fiddle (1985–1993 and 2022-present), Andrew York on guitar since 1994, Dane Clark on drums since 1996, ‘Mr Funkadelic himself a rocker a funk player a viagra takin player’ Jon Gee on bass, and Mike Wanchic on guitars since the very beginning in 1976! The finale (as the three part did not give way to a true encore) was ‘Check It Out’ and #2 ‘Hurt’s So Good’. The song which hadn’t been on his set list for some twenty years ended with John winding up his arm into a jump and throwing a giant punch into the air with a handclap to the audience. The set was a couple songs shy to that of other shows on the tour. Those that notably did not make the cut were 79’s #28 ‘I Need A Lover’, 81’s #17 ‘Ain’t Even Done With The Night’, 84’s #15 ‘Authority Song’, and ’85’s #2 R.O.C.K. in The U.S.A.! Retroceding to my pondering of the significance of the set and arrangement of songs, its theme became clear to me, ‘the fading of the American dream’. John, a critical thinker has been quoted saying, ‘I see the truth in everything. I also see the lie in everything’. In the best and in the worst of times there is a truth about rock ’n’ roll. it can take a small town telephone installer and transform him into an American music legend with lyrics to define a generation!” Review and photo by DAve (Concert #781)

I didn’t particularly care for the beginning / movie part though I appreciate it has meaning to his beginnings / influences. People weren’t paying a lot of attention - so then it was noisy & hard to follow/hear I found I like him as a person more bc of his storytelling & some songs from his stories, that I hadn’t heard. He was funny & captivating. He was such a part of my teen years so I feel fortunate to have seen my Bandsintown email & grabbed great tickets at great prices just 48 hrs before. I love seeing shows at the Chicago Theatre. Great venue for him.

Great show! Solid mixture of newer music and classic favorites. He told stories while introducing songs. His voice and the band were solid and in sync. The show started with a 30-minute film connecting his music to his favorite movies. With such an amazing songwriter, I loved the opportunity for more insight into his inspiration. My only wish was that portion of the show would've been louder so I could hear better over the people still finding their seats. I loved the music from beginning to end, and the venue - Midland Theater, KC - was a terrific location for this concert! I would recommend this concert to fans of great music and songwriting.

Loved it! John Mellencamp was amazing and funny and poignant as normal. His band was fantastic and the music he played, was a nice mixture of nostalgia and new stuff. We had great seats and I was so glad that I purchased the refreshment package. For only $40 my friend and I each got two tickets that allowed us to either have two drinks or two snacks. Getting the drinks was a really good deal and was half the cost if we had just walked in and ordered them. Really glad I went!

Played a crowd pleasing set mixing the old with the new plus is usual great colorful commentary on many things. Voice is OK considering 50 years of smoking, band is very tight and he doesn't miss a note either. Enjoyable show.. Only drawback is the lighting, if you were not in the first few rows you could not see his face or that of the band either. Needs either spotlights or video screens.

John Mellencamp and band were great, but he audience was not so great. Everything John started to share a good story... there were a few goofballs (Mr. Mellencamp referred to them as "M***F***ers", that thought it would be cute to shout out "We love you John", or something similar. It wasn't cute. They interrupted the artist, and pissed him and your fellow concertgoers off. People, stop trying to have a conversation with the artist during their performance. They want to give a good show for everyone. Not have a conversation with you.

Mellencamp. Was great. Small beautiful venue. Sounded terrific with his typical rasp. Had lots of thoughtful stuff to say. Definitely a few F-bombs, but that’s his way. Lots of dumb, drunk types in the audience (especially sitting right behind me) but I tried not to let that ruin experience. Glad I went.

As a concert goer for the last 50 years (this is my hobby). It was so so. It seem he was missing a spotlight. Several times he approached the front of the stage and was in darkness. The band was tight. The 30 minute movie intro was lame. He could have used that time to play. Maybe do 2 sets. As for the set list, there were a couple of songs that could have been included and at least one excluded. I’ve always believed in the Jackson Browne song “Stay”. That is rarely true.

As a concert goer for the last 50 years (this is my hobby). It was so so. It seem he was missing a spotlight. Several times he approached the front of the stage and was in darkness. The band was tight. The 30 minute movie intro was lame. He could have used that time to play. Maybe do 2 sets. As for the set list, there were a couple of songs that could have been included and at least one excluded. I’ve always believed in the Jackson Browne song “Stay”. That is rarely true.

Simply entertaining. Mr. Mellencamp has traveled a lot of miles since being billed with the last name of “Cougar,” and he and his band are very good at delivering technically sound renditions of the music that made him a household name. The crowd feeds off the energy and cannot help but sing along. After a concert this good, only one question remains: who will take his place as the American heartland’s conscience after he hangs up his touring gear?

John never disappoints. (Though I could have smacked the annoying people behind me who would rather talk than listen to an amazing artist. ) My Hoosier Hero, I so enjoy his music and his commentary. His is unwavering in his delivery and rock solid in his beliefs and that combination makes him an extraordinary singer/songwriter/storyteller. A true triple threat. So thrilled that my friend and I got to see him. He is our Hometown....Small Town....Love Bloomington....Soundtrack of Our Lives....Keep playing it John!

I didn’t enjoy the 20 minute movie that began the show...not sure what the purpose was? He could have played 3 additional songs! John and the band sounded amazing, but I wasn’t in love with the set list. Some of my favorites were left out in favor of a sing-a-long about Kentucky that he performed twice! Finally, I will never attend a concert at that particular facility because as we sat only 6 rows from the stage, we couldn’t see a thing. Two Amazon women m, two rows ahead of us, stood the entire concert. At 5’ 2”, I couldn’t see a thing. I was very disappointed

We were stressed out about the weather, but the roads were clear, so i'm very glad he didn't cancel. The concert was excellent ! Do not go into Mr. Mellencamp's show with madness & B.S. because he will not only call you out, he will have you escorted out. The silly female in the front who started some mess found out the hard way. He said that of all the stops he had been to on this tour, this was the first trouble he'd had. I apologize for the troublemaker, kind sir. Baltimore loves you. Anyhoo..he was in great voice ! Good selection of songs. His violinist is off the hook ! That woman can PLAY ! This was my first time seeing him, but it won't be the last time. He took a knee and raised his fist, and people with love in their hearts had no problem with that.

A great show as always by my favorite artist ( obviously I'm biased). Pretty much the same show as the last tour, with a new song or two put in. Note for attendees: no pictures or phone use at all, and he requests you keep quiet during the acoustic part of the show (& will call you out if you don't!) Plays alot of the hits you want to hear, & his band is great. You get the real JM as always, and that does include a little of his politics, as he has never been known to not speak up. Going to 2 more shows of this tour, will post again. #YourLifeIsNow

The music was great, but I felt ripped off sitting through a 25 minute video before he got to the music. People started booing. We were in the 7th row. The couple behind us left their expensive seats 15 minutes into the video and didn’t come back. Would have been okay if the video was playing before show time, but it shouldn’t have been such a big portion of the show.

Took my daughter and that made it a 4. Overall probably a 3. Seems his voice has changed alot more. should be expected with his age but billy joel sounded amazing a few weeks ago. Nonetheless classic songs and a wonderful time with my daughter

I have seen John Mellencamp ten times since 1982. He and his band always put on a great show. This time was no different. He actually exceeded my expectations. My husband and I had a great time and will definitely go see him when he is in our area again.