Goldenplec Irish Music Magazine: The Grand Canal Theater Dublin Show Review
Every time I see a legendary act I always approach the event with
trepidation. There is always this fine line where the act will either be
everything you hoped or badly left you down.
Tonight John Mellencamp joined the list of acts who not only came to town and
met my expectations, but surpassed the performance I was expecting.
Johnny Cash’s – God’s Gonna Cut You Down plays as the lights dim to a low ebb.
As the song finishes on the P.A. the crowd cheer wildly and the curtains draw
back to reveal John and band who open with ‘Authority Song’.
Already there were people in the fully seated (and apparently fully sold out)
venue up on their feet for a standing ovation. One song in and an ovation, I
couldn’t help think the crowd were too kind but then some of these fans have
been waiting a long time to see him live.
They rattled through some songs including the cover of ‘Death Letters’ John
recorded (originally a Son House song) and Walk Tall which was one of my
favourite tunes which he released as part of a Greatest Hits in 2004. One of two
new songs added on to the greatest hits album.
He told a story about a nice guy on the street stopping him and asking him if he
was playing any of his old stuff. He said he always likes to move forward. The
guy requested that he play ‘Cherry Bomb’ which he then jumped into acapella.
There has been mention of this acapella version at other shows so I wonder if
that story was just used as a nice segway.
Around the middle of the show he hit his stride with ‘Easter Eve’ and then a
folky version of ‘Jack and Diane’ which was an excellent take on his classic
tune. Then he rolled into ‘Jacky Brown’ then ‘Longest Days’ and his classic hit
‘Small Town’. The crowd were in the palm of his hand and he controlled them
effortlessly having them sing back the lyrics at his beck and call.
Closing out the show with ‘If I Die Sudden’ and ‘Pink Houses’ before finishing
off by pulling a guy out of the crowd up on stage to sing ‘R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A’
with him. A standing ovation had been thoroughly earned and whilst there was no
encore and he also didn’t play ‘Hurts So Good’ which I was particularly looking
forward to hearing it turned out to be an absolute corker of a show.
There have been few acts I have seen who have commanded the respect of an older
crowd in the manner John Mellencamp did. At shows where you have a giant pop act
getting word for word responses from a young crowd it is expected as they are
fanatical but many of this crowd may not have actively listened to John
Mellencamp on a daily basis yet knew every word. You could see down the front so
many wanted to get up and burst out into dance when certain songs were played. I
had not anticipated this as previous shows by rock/pop legends have been muted
crowds especially at fully seated events.
John Mellencamp changed that and has now provided me with a new benchmark to
rate seated gigs by. An amazing gig in a quality new venue.