Severe weather sent fans racing through huge puddles to seek shelter in their vehicles as nearby lightning, heavy rain and wind gusts forced John Mellencamp to cut the first set of his greatest hits revue short after only six songs at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre in Phoenix on Sunday, Aug. 9.
It was an hour before Mellencamp was able to resume the concert with a spirited rendition of “I Need A Lover,” the debut single that’s been opening his second set, eventually addressing what had happened two songs later, coming out of a solo acoustic performance of “Jack & Diane.”
“That little breeze (expletived) up the show,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t know you guys had breezes like that.”
As the concert was nearing its conclusion, he again addressed
the situation.
“Other than the interruption of nature,” he said, “we’ve had a good time with you guys tonight.”
It was a good time, although nature’s interruption to result in several disappointing setlist trims, including “Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First),” “Minutes to Memories,” “Pop Singer” and the song that’s ended every other concert on this hits tour, “Hurts So Good.”
Dancing Words is a rare Greatest Hits tour for John Mellencamp
That still left plenty of big hits in the mix, which is, of course, the whole idea behind The Dancing Words Tour – The Greatest Hits.
Mellencamp has never gone to Dylanesque extremes when it comes to avoiding the cultural touchstones casual fans might hope to hear when they purchase a ticket to one of his concerts. A quick look at the most-played songs on nearly every tour he’s done since the turn of the century shows a handful of career-defining classics, from “Jack & Diane” and “Pink Houses” to “Small Town” and “Rain on the Scarecrow” in heavy rotation.
And yet, he’s rarely leaned into the hits as unabashedly as he’s been doing on this tour, which when the weather cooperated has found the singer treating fans to a two-and-a-half-hour journey through the best-known highlights of his legacy.
We got something closer to an hour and a half. Thanks, weather!
Sunday’s show featured a handful of crowd-pleasing classics that hadn’t graced a setlist in more than a decade, from a “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.” and “I Need a Lover” to a very funky “Wild Night.”
He didn’t only play the hits. In fact, he opened with an album track, taking the stage with a a lit cigarette dangling from his fingertips to greet the crowd with “Lawless Times,” a gritty slice of social commentary from 2014’s “Plain Spoken” that felt like it was beamed in from New Orleans.
For the most part, though, Mellencamp stuck to the flight plan, treating the crowd to a well-paced journey through his catalog that seemed designed touch off massive singalongs at the helm of an accomplished eight-piece touring band.
The current version of that band consists of guitarist Mike Wanchic, a longtime member who’s been with Mellencamp for more than 50 years, guitarist Andy York, violinist extraordinaire Lisa Germano, drummer Dane Clark, bassist John Gunnell and keyboardist Troye Kinnett, with Eli Norman and Crystal Taliefero on backing vocals, percussion and, in Taliefero’s case, the occasional saxophone solo.
There were only two songs from this century – “Lawless Times,” which found him inserting a reference to ICE into the line about not trusting the police, and the Babyface collaboration “Walk Tall.”
This newsletter goes to 11. Sign up for weekly music news.
Mellencamp was in a chatty mood, occasionally straying into politics
Mellencamp has certainly been shy about letting you know where he stands on political issues, but he left the speechifying to the gentleman from New Jersey, slipping in a sly riff on the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, which he references in “Pink Houses,” to comic effect.
“Is it still the Gulf of Mexico?” he asked. “I don’t know about this Gulf of America. It’s been the Gulf of Mexico for a long time. Let’s keep it that way.”
He also spoke out on behalf of American farmers, bemoaning the fact that he’s still doing Farm Aid every year due to the government’s reluctance to do anything to help while introducing the anthemic “Rain on the Scarecrow.”
He was in a fairly chatty mood throughout. During “Lawless Times,” he told the fans “You’re probably my favorite kind of people,” the “outliers” who “don’t play by the rules and don’t give a damn,” adding “because I’m a misfit, you guys are mavericks, non-conformists.”
During “Jack & Diane,” he stopped the song after a single verse to playfully chastise the crowd, as he’s been doing on this tour, for singing the chorus too early. It was a cute little moment, although to be honest, very few people, if any, appeared to be singing the chorus too early.
He also shared an oddly charming memory of sexual awakenings at a basement party in the seventh grade by way of introducing a tender rendition of “Ain’t Even Done With the Night.”
Mellencamp was in good spirits, clearly enjoying the hits expereience
At 74, the voice behind those hits has done its share of aging in the 50 years since the release of his first album, “Chestnut Street Incident,” as Johnny Cougar, a name he never liked or wanted, leading to a multi-album process of slowly reclaiming his real name (with stops at John Cougar and John Cougar Mellencamp).
He sounded great, though, the aging process added to the gritty character and in some cases poignancy of his delivery, settling into a gravelly rasp that on occasion felt like he was channeling Tom Waits.
And if he’s having second thoughts about embracing the nostalgia-tour aesthetic? You’d have never known it to experience him dusting off one massive hit after another with an enthusiasm bordering on pure joy.
It’s nice to see the oft-cantankerous performer having so much fun sharing his music with an audience whose lives were clearly soundtracked by those hits.
And hearing them back-to-back like that was a breathtaking reminder of how much his music came to dominate pop culture at a certain point, especially between the 1982 release of “American Fool” – the album that gave the world the chart-topping “Jack & Diane” – and his last big single, 1996’s “Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First),” which was cut from the setlist.
For a guy whose greatest hits include a Top 20 single whose line is “Never wanted to be no pop singer/ Never wanted to write no pop songs” (also cut from the setlist), the man can clearly write a pop song.
And he signed off with a show of force few acts could match, bringing the show a crowd-pleasing climax with “Authority Song” (which included a snippet of “Land of 1,000 Dances”), “Crumblin’ Down,” “Pink Houses,” “Cherry Bomb” and “Check It Out” in a spot that’s normally reserved for “Hurts So Good.”
It made me think about the chorus of his biggest hit, “Jack & Diane”: “Oh yeah, life goes on long after the thrill of livin’ is gone.”
That may be true at some point. But the thrill of livin’ was in full effect in that performance.
Ed has covered pop music for The Republic since 2007, reviewing festivals and concerts, interviewing legends, covering the local scene and more. He did the same in Pittsburgh for more than a decade. Follow him on X and Instagram @edmasley and on Facebook as Ed Masley. Email him at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: John Mellencamp rocks the hits as severe weather rocks Phoenix venue
