John Mellencamp Live at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, BC (04/13/2011)

I’ve known John Mellencamp’s music from the beginning but didn’t become a fan until I heard Check It Out. I loved the song and bought the single when it was released. I started buying his albums shortly after that. I only saw John once and that was in 2005. It was a very memorable performance and I always wanted to see Mellencamp again. I had that opportunity on April 13th, 2011. He played the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, BC. The Orpheum as a venue is a wonderful building with superb acoustics. Generally symphonies play the venue but on occasion rock artists grace the stage.

The show opened with a film about the making of John’s most recent album, No Better Than This. It’s a wonderful film that not only shows the making of the album but also John and his band traveling through the US and some concert footage.

John and his band hit the stage at about 8:30 PM to a thunderous applause and rocked the house right from the start with Authority Song. The crowd loved it when he said he’s be playing for a long, long time. John said he would play something old, something new, some songs the crowd could sing along to. He certainly did just that. Mellencamp had the not quite sold out crowd in the palm of his hand right from the start. One of the many highlights of the night was when John sang Cherry Bomb. He started with his acoustic guitar but then stopped as the entire audience began singing along with John. Death Letter was performed with such incredible energy. John’s vocals were gritty and made the song sound much heavier. I especially enjoyed John sense of humor when sharing the story of his grandmother and segueing into a wonderful acoustic version of
Longest Days. John also told the story of having met a gentleman earlier in the day who asked him to play a song and explained that it was the way this fellow asked – respectfully. John obliged and played rousing rendition of Jack & Diane. The topic of growing old came up as well and John played an incredibly powerful If I Die Sudden. Of course John played Small Town, Check It Out, which once again had the whole audience singing along. He also played a great version of Walk Tall. John did play a number of tunes from No Better Than This. He played a very impressive The West End. John talked about the fact that people should be kind to one another and played a thought provoking Save Some Time To Dream. The audience participated on No One Cares About Me and of course the title track of the new album. As I said before, there were so many highlights, they were all highlights. John closed the show with Pink Houses and R.O.C.K. in The USA but didn’t come back for an encore. If I had one wish it would have been for John to on stage to play Comin’ Down The Road and Easter Eve. John played for just a little over two hours.

If you haven’t caught John on this tour, definitely get yourself a ticket to his concert when he’s in your town. One thing’s for sure, it really can’t get “no better than this”. Thanks John & band for a great night of terrific music.

Written by: Mike Schatz