Vehicle
Aging Metalhead
The thread title is pretty self explanatory.
I figured people in here are always going to a show, and reporting back. It's what we do.
Instead of having reviews scattered all over, in the artists' threads, why not have a central place for all the reviews?
Frankly, I was a bit surprised when I did a search and there wasn't one of these threads already.
BTW, the reviews don't have to follow any kind of format. I just did mine like this because that's how I roll. hehe.
Anyhow...
Who: John Mellencamp
When: July 6, 2014, 8pm
Where: The Borgata Event Center Atlantic City, NJ.
Capacity: 3,700
Your View: rows from the very back of the venue, just off center
JM took the stage about 15 minutes late, and opened with Human Wheels, then went into a moderatly paced brand new cut called Troubled Man.
I told the Missus as long as he did my #1, Check It Out, I was going home happy. That was third. Jackpot!
Next was a great 3 song acoustic set with just John, his guitar and a spot light.
First, he slowed down Jack & Diane.
Second, he told an amusing and poignant story about his Grandma, then did Longest Days.
Thirdly, a really good, stripped down version of Small Town, and got a laugh when he changed the lyrics to "Married a couple girls, and took them to that small town, now I don't if it's the small town, or if it's me small town, just like me" (see vid below)
He then left the stage while his fiddler and accordian player did a wonderful instrumental version of Minutes To Memories. I'm guessing he needed a cigarette break.
Back to the full band, the pace picked up as they blew through Scarecrow, Paper In Fire, Crumblin' Down, R.O.C.K. In The USA, in quick succession.
He slowed a bit to do Pink Houses, during which he introduced the band, saying the keyboardist was the new guy, only being in the band 18 years.
Then they blasted off again with The Authority Song and Cherry Bomb, and then...the show was over.
No encores, nothing. He said goodnight, and the lights came up. Fourteen songs.
The good & bad of it:
A big negative was the show was maybe an hour & 15 minutes. I don't think I've ever seen such a big name do so short a show.
Another negative was the acoustics. At times, drummer would hit his snare, and I'd hear it again behind me as it bounced off the wall. But that could've been
because of our seats, or maybe because there were a bunch of empty seats.
No Jackie Brown. That's #2 for me.
Lastly, he never really engaged the audience. Other than his Grandma story, and joking about his marriages, it was mostly "thank you", and "are you having a good time?"
He did incite the audience to sing along at times, though.
On the positive side, a really great thing he did was having a bunch of new arrangements of old songs. Changing tempo on some, stripping some others down, kept
it interesting.
Instrument variation. Floor bass, mandolin, fiddle, accordion, and a banjo are all great sounds you don't hear much.
The band was pretty good, and any time you have a barefoot woman playing the fiddle, that's a plus.
Another good thing was getting to sing the choruses of a bunch of Mellencamp songs.
I found a couple from the show we were at:
I figured people in here are always going to a show, and reporting back. It's what we do.
Instead of having reviews scattered all over, in the artists' threads, why not have a central place for all the reviews?
Frankly, I was a bit surprised when I did a search and there wasn't one of these threads already.
BTW, the reviews don't have to follow any kind of format. I just did mine like this because that's how I roll. hehe.
Anyhow...
Who: John Mellencamp
When: July 6, 2014, 8pm
Where: The Borgata Event Center Atlantic City, NJ.
Capacity: 3,700
Your View: rows from the very back of the venue, just off center
JM took the stage about 15 minutes late, and opened with Human Wheels, then went into a moderatly paced brand new cut called Troubled Man.
I told the Missus as long as he did my #1, Check It Out, I was going home happy. That was third. Jackpot!
Next was a great 3 song acoustic set with just John, his guitar and a spot light.
First, he slowed down Jack & Diane.
Second, he told an amusing and poignant story about his Grandma, then did Longest Days.
Thirdly, a really good, stripped down version of Small Town, and got a laugh when he changed the lyrics to "Married a couple girls, and took them to that small town, now I don't if it's the small town, or if it's me small town, just like me" (see vid below)
He then left the stage while his fiddler and accordian player did a wonderful instrumental version of Minutes To Memories. I'm guessing he needed a cigarette break.
Back to the full band, the pace picked up as they blew through Scarecrow, Paper In Fire, Crumblin' Down, R.O.C.K. In The USA, in quick succession.
He slowed a bit to do Pink Houses, during which he introduced the band, saying the keyboardist was the new guy, only being in the band 18 years.
Then they blasted off again with The Authority Song and Cherry Bomb, and then...the show was over.
No encores, nothing. He said goodnight, and the lights came up. Fourteen songs.
The good & bad of it:
A big negative was the show was maybe an hour & 15 minutes. I don't think I've ever seen such a big name do so short a show.
Another negative was the acoustics. At times, drummer would hit his snare, and I'd hear it again behind me as it bounced off the wall. But that could've been
because of our seats, or maybe because there were a bunch of empty seats.
No Jackie Brown. That's #2 for me.
Lastly, he never really engaged the audience. Other than his Grandma story, and joking about his marriages, it was mostly "thank you", and "are you having a good time?"
He did incite the audience to sing along at times, though.
On the positive side, a really great thing he did was having a bunch of new arrangements of old songs. Changing tempo on some, stripping some others down, kept
it interesting.
Instrument variation. Floor bass, mandolin, fiddle, accordion, and a banjo are all great sounds you don't hear much.
The band was pretty good, and any time you have a barefoot woman playing the fiddle, that's a plus.
Another good thing was getting to sing the choruses of a bunch of Mellencamp songs.
I found a couple from the show we were at:
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