Singer-songwriter John Mellencamp could easily be forgiven for phoning in his live performances. At 71 years of age, the Rock Hall inductee could have strolled onto a bare stage hours late wearing cargo shorts and his fans would have still loved it. That was not the case on Wednesday, February 22nd, as Mellencamp brought his “Live and In Person” tour to the Broward Center For The Performing Arts in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
As the start time rolled around, a sell-out capacity crowd of 2,658 fans was on hand to witness a thirty-minute montage of classic film clips from the Turner Classic Movie library. TCM, the tour sponsor, presented this display in the time slot normally filled by an opener. As the screen raised, the fans were greeted with a stage set up to replicate a Hollywood film set, complete with vintage lights and life-sized mannequins bathed in blue and yellow lighting.
Over the next two hours, there were as Mellencamp put it, “Songs you know and songs you don’t know,” every one of them played with the intensity and joy of performing that is missing in many rockers of this ilk. Kicking off the musical portion of the evening was “John Cocker”, from 2008’s Life, Death, Love, and Freedom followed seamlessly by the mega-hit “Paper In Fire” and “Minutes To Memories” from the Scarecrow record.
The night rolled on with hit after hit interspersed with songs from the most recent release, 2022’s Strictly A One-Eyed Jack, the songs from which Mellencamp was kind enough to teach to the audience. The night closed with two raucous sing-a-longs, “Cherry Bomb” and “Hurts So Good” before the crowd sauntered out into the warm Florida night.
Setlist
Fugitive Kind, The Misfits, Giant, Grapes Of Wrath, Hud, On The Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire (video montage)
John Cockers
Paper In Fire
Minutes To Memories
Small Town
Hey God
Human Wheels
Don’t Need This Body
We Are The People
Jackie Brown
Check It Out
The Eyes Of Portland
Longest Days
Jack & Diane
I Always Lie To Strangers
The Real Life
Rain On The Scarecrow
Lonely ‘Ol Night
Crumblin’ Down
Pink Houses
Chasing Rainbows
Cherry Bomb
Hurts So Good
