Featured Shows
John Mellencamp - Keller Auditorioum PDX
John Mellencamp at Keller Auditorium in Portland, OR
photos by Julia Varga
Around here, we don’t get to throw the term “legend” around too often; we feel some artists we’ve seen are legends-in-the-making. I mean, give them 20 years, but current legends? Not often. An artist rarely sees 50 years in their industry, especially one that can chew up and spit out even the most hardened spirits. But John Mellencamp has persevered, never to stray from his own path, in his own way. I hate when people talk about bands/artists like they’re surprised they’re still around…”they still got it!”, oof that makes me mad. Of course they still got it, they’ll always have it. So I won’t say that here. Mellencamp is here, absolutely rockin’.
I’ve grown up listening to John Mellencamp, his music a gentle behind the scenes soundtrack to my adolescence, weaving in and out of life as my musical tastes developed their own identity. I may have drifted away from his music, but there was no way I was missing his show in PDX.
There was no opener for the show, instead a video of clips from various old films was shown. The montage was intertwined with an interview of Mellencamp illustrating his inspirations from such films as “On the Waterfront”, “Hud”, and “Paper Moon” with actors such as (friend) Paul Newman, James Dean, and Marlon Brando; the latter of which became subjects for Mellencamp’s paintings. When the video stopped, the curtain came up and the roaring applause erupted to welcome the singer and his band.
The set list, posted at the bottom, was nothing shy of great. It was a prodigious mix of new and old, and those ones that he just has to do for the crowd, which I’m personally grateful for since this was my first time seeing him live. To hear an acoustic version of “Jack and Diane”, complete with the crowd getting the sing-along wrong and Mellencamp having to stop to correct them through unrestrained chuckling, was a dream I didn’t even know I had until I lived it.
What I loved even more, and I wish more artists would do -but apparently you need 50 years in the biz to do it before *almost * everyone listens- is to tell the crowd to keep their big mouths shut during “the quiet ones”! Of course one woman just had to yell out in agreement and with the irony completely lost on her, Mellencamp told her to take it outside. The rest of the crowd clapped in approving compliance. Light hearted moments allowing for John Mellencamp to show you the human he is, were welcomed, and met with both his and the crowds’ laughter.
Stories interspersed with songs made for a show that was more theatrical narrative than “just” a concert; even the stage, set with a background of movie stills and lights, brought a theater-like experience. Personal situational encounters led to songs born from our very own Portland. “The Eyes of Portland” is one such story. In this one he was in town for lunch and came across an anxious homeless woman whom he just wanted to help. She told him she just wanted to get home so he offered her a bus ticket, but she said she wasn’t welcomed there. He offered her money, to which her first question was if she had to have sex with him. No, of course not, this brought him great sadness that this was the only way she knew in order to accept the money, but that same instance brought her great joy that she would not have to demean herself another night to make it through. The lyrics “all these homeless, where do they come from?”, repeated throughout the song, are now more poignant knowing the backstory.
So many stories shared: of his time with his aging Grandmother, his dream about being at the pearly gates, and stories about his friend Joanne Woodward. Woodward, widow of friend Paul Newman, lent her, now recently lost, speaking voice to create a recording of Mellencamp’s song titled “The Real Life”. Her spoken word track was played for us with an accompaniment of live accordion and violin and brought me deep unexpected chills.
I must tell you, my inner teen was squealing from the pure joy of getting to sing along to “Hurts so Good” live. Mellencamp gave us a two-hour show and an impressive 21 song set list. The man is an unwaivering rock legend.
Set List:
John Cockers
Paper in Fire
Minutes to Memories
Small Town
Hey God
Human Wheels
Don’t Need This Body
Jackie Brown
Check it Out
The Eyes of Portland
Longest Days
Jack and Diane
I Always Lie to Strangers
The Real Life -read by Joanne Woodward
Scarecrow
Lonely Ol’ Night
Crumblin’ Down (with Gloria by Them)
Pink Houses
Chasing Rainbows
Cherry Bomb
Hurt So Good
photos by Julia Varga
