Great show at the beautiful Fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis tonight. John was in good spirits and put on an energetic and entertaining performance. There were some very funny moments. Before "Right Behind Me" he told a long story about how he had the devil trapped in an apple tree in his backyard when he was 14 and the devil told him if he could keep him up in the tree for a week he wouldn't take John's soul. John said a pretty girl walked by after two days and he went after her and if he hadn't, we would all be saved from the devil right now. He also said the devil doesn't have horns and a tail, he dresses nice and is very intelligent. I saw both shows in Bloomington last weekend and this story wasn't told at either of them, so this appears to be something new.
During "Small Town" somebody yelled something out (I was told later a guy yelled "Seymour, Indiana," but I can't be sure) and John started laughing and said "you f**ked me up. I've sung this song how many times? And because of you I f**ked up." He said it in a jovial, light-hearted way, but that was a first for me, hearing a fan rattle John. He didn't start the song over, he picked it up from where he messed up.
"Thinking About You" appears to be gone from the setlist for good, and it hasn't been replaced by anything else. "Troubled Land" also appears to be gone for good, but it has been replaced by "Human Wheels," which is a good move by John in my opinion. "Troubled Land," while a fantastic song, has been a little overplayed in the live setting since 2007 and "Human Wheels" sounds fresher and at least briefly represents John's underrated '90s work, a decade he completely skipped over in the Bloomington shows last weekend.
The new rockabilly version of "Walk Tall" continues to be the highlight of the set for me, along with "Deep Blue Heart" and "The Real Life." "Death Letter" also sounds great live. John sings it with a lot of passion. I also really like the acoustic version of "Jackie Brown" and the barroom brawl story in "Easter Eve" really comes across well live and keeps the fans interested. John does a fantastic job of delivering it in a fashion so that everyone, whether they've heard the song before or not, hangs on every verse.
John is consistently playing for over two hours and delivering 24 songs, which is the same length and same number of songs he did during his heyday on the Scarecrow, Lonesome Jubilee and Whenever We Wanted tours. On those tours he took a 15-20 minute intermission halfway through the set, and this time he's playing straight through. Throw in the fantastic movie that opens each show and you could make a strong case that this is the best Mellencamp tour ever. It's heavy on album tracks (even if most are from recent albums instead of classic albums) and moderate on hits, and many of those that are played are completely rearranged. In short, the St. Louis show was fantastic, the Fabulous Fox is as good a venue to see a show as there is in the United States, and if you aren't planning to see this tour before it ends in late April, change your plans ASAP. You can't miss this show. Yes, the tickets are expensive, but the No Better Than This tour is worth every penny.
Setlist:
Authority Song
No One Cares About Me
Deep Blue Heart
Death Letter
Walk Tall
The West End
Check It Out
Save Some Time To Dream (solo, acoustic)
Cherry Bomb (a capella)
Don’t Need This Body
Right Behind Me
Jackie Brown (acoustic with Mirium on violin)
Longest Days (John and Andy)
Easter Eve
Jack and Diane
Small Town (solo, acoustic)
Troye and Mirium's Hymn
Rain on the Scarecrow
Paper and Fire
The Real Life
Human Wheels
If I Die Sudden
No Better Than This
Pink Houses
R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVkn7ekHLYkBelow are some pictures from the St. Louis show:
