There was no opening act for the concert, instead there was a film/documentary from his tour last year with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson and the making of his latest album. I watched about a half hour of the film before I got restless and thought, i came here to see and hear live music, not watch a film, so I bailed. What I did see, it was alright, I'll wait til it comes out on DVD and watch it in full.
At 8:20 precisely, just like the ticket said, Mellencamp hit the stage opening with a rocking version of his hit song from his "Uh Huh" album Authority Song. Other songs performed last night included "Pink Houses, Scarecrow, Cherry Bomb, Jackie Brown, Jack & Diane, Small Town, Paper In Fire and of course some songs from his newest album Save Some Time To Dream, No One Cares About Me" and others I am sure, I can't recall the titles. He closed the two hour show with the song "R.O.C.K. In The USA", which during this song pulled a lady from the front row to dance and help him sing the song, very cool. John's voice sounded grittier then the previous times I have seen him, and he did admit he wasn't feeling all that well and almost cancelled the show (appeared to me he had a cold), thank goodness he didn't cause i thought he put on a great show. I was actually quite surprised by how rocking it was, I was kind of expecting a slower, more acoustic show, but much to my surprise he rocked the sold out crowd of 26oo people.
Now for my gripe about this event. I bought a ticket for the Friday night show, which was cancelled and rescheduled for Sunday night. That worked out good for me as I had inventory at work Friday night and was not able to go. Lucky for me I was able to sell my Friday ticket. I then bought a ticket for the Saturday night show. There were only single tickets left, so I bought a VIP Package ticket for the show. I got an excellent seat, row 2, but the package cost me 250 dollars. I thought about it, and saw that the package came with a limited edition poster and tour shirt and laminate and vinyl copy of his latest album. Well, I already had the vinyl, but thought, hey, I always buy a shirt and usually a poster as well. When you add it all up , I should break even. I got my VIP package in the mail a week before the show, I excitedly opened the parcel to see my t-shirt which was a one sided shirt with no tour dates on the back. It is a nice shirt, but it looks like something you would be able to get at any old head shop. The poster, is quite nice and is number 2859 out of 3000, but the poster is for the 2010 tour, duh, it's 2011 dumb asses. And the laminate, I mean c'mon, like it means anything, it has no access to anything, so it's really kind of a stupid idea. Having said that, I actually saw a few people wearing them at the show, that made me laugh. I feel for 250 dollars, you would actually get a real tour shirt and an up to date poster. Oh well, at least the show was good.
Tonight, John Mellencamp plays the second of two sold out shows, which I am lucky enough to get to go to again, thanks to my buddy Buzzard, as he has an extra ticket for the show. So, I guess you could call me a Mellenhead. Watch tomorrow for a review of Sunday nights show. Here is hoping he changes up the set.
Front.
Laminate.
Poster.
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