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Author Topic: John Mellencamp's adult crowd acts pretty childish  (Read 15818 times)
walktall2010
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« on: March 08, 2011, 10:47:08 am »

John Mellencamp's adult crowd acts pretty childish

By Sean Daly, St. Petersburg Times Pop Music Critic
Tuesday, March 8, 2011

It should have been as quiet as a temple, pin-drop conditions for a Hall of Famer to pluck out a somber acoustic song for an intimate crowd of just under 2,200. John Mellencamp was a big star on a small stage, and a sold-out Friday crowd at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater had paid ample bucks — my ticket was $130, about 12 rows up — for the intimate opportunity.

But as soon as the 59-year-old Hoosier, suddenly alone on stage with nothing but a guitar and his Fonzie haircut, started singing the incandescent Save Some Time to Dream, a wide assortment of morons, dopes and related loudmouths in the crowd started hooting and hollering as if a wet T-shirt contest had just broken out. "Yeow!" "Johnny!" "Blaaarrghhh!" And so on.

I don't get it. At all.

Surprisingly, Mellencamp, whose nickname is Little Bastard for a cantankerous reason, didn't unload on the shocking rudeness. He simply said, "If you're waiting for a song, just be patient. It'll probably come up."

And he was right, mixing captivating new stuff with the MTV classics, shifting from acoustic to a cappella to full-throttle rock. And yet, that still didn't quell a rambunctious crowd. Every time he went quiet, select buffoons in the audience started mooing.

And it wasn't just vocal rudeness. In front of me, merlot was dumped on a woman's head. A fed-up fan lashed out at two men teheeing: "If you want to talk, the (bleeping) lobby is out there!" A constant procession of beer runs and subsequent restroom relief had people standing up, sitting down, standing up.

Good lord, my Skittles-addled preteen daughters were less restless during a recent trip to the cineplex than the well-heeled nabobs at Mellencamp.

I'm all for people going to concerts and having a grand old time. And I'm certainly not a teetotaler; if I hadn't been on the clock, I would have knocked back a few myself. But if you spend major moolah on a rare chance to see a beloved rock icon in a sparkling venue, why would you want to ruin it with constant chatter, loser shoutouts and endless urinal salutes?

That's indefensible.

Here's a little tip: I love that Ruth Eckerd Hall allows adult beverages in the concert hall for pop and rock shows. (The Mahaffey in downtown St. Petersburg and the Straz Center in Tampa have the same policy.) But if you're sitting in the middle of a row, you'd best bring Depends. The rows at Ruth Eckerd are long and tight, and if you're anywhere near the middle of the hall, you have a sublime view of the stage but a looong walk to get another brew. No one minds if you take the Excuse Me Stroll once, twice.

When Mellencamp played full-band versions of The Authority Song and Check It Out, I was happy to see people rocketing out of their seats. Some people hate the standers, but I don't. I'd never yell at someone dancing and soaking in the show.

But when you start deliberately ruining the concert for other people — not to mention hinder the artist from doing his or her job — that's another thing. You're not being cool, you're not being remotely funny. You're being a first-class chowderhead. And the rest of us think you should just stay home.

http://www.tampabay.com/features/music/article1155888.ece
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lette
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« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2011, 04:13:52 pm »

I totally get what you are saying, it is really really annoying when you paid money for a ticket when you think the artist is the greatest thing since sliced bread and other people would rather talk, shout out , drink and generally act as if they were in a bar with the music as in the background I mean really whats the point of paying to see someone perform if you dont want to listen! Same goes for when Im at the movies and a load of young oiks (as I call them) keep running in and out and are there more for a social event than to sit and watch the movie!
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philguy
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« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2011, 06:25:00 am »

Totally agree, we travelled from the UK for this gig and although we had a great night we were shocked at the amount of fans (so called) going out for drinks and disturbing people around them. Huh
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lette
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« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2012, 08:57:18 am »

You should come up to Canada to see John next time, We respect musicians when they are on stage! We get all our drinks before hand then sit and listen or stand and dance and we like to sing along too but we do not interfere with guy on stage! Unless he requests it which John always does at some point in his show anyhow.
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albertgilder
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« Reply #4 on: October 23, 2012, 04:41:09 am »

Totally agree, we travelled from the UK for this gig and although we had a great night we were shocked at the amount of fans (so called) going out for drinks and disturbing people around them. Huh


Yeah.. Indeed you are very true. I also had a quit same experience in my last UK trip...
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