Concert Review – John Mellencamp & Sheryl Crow

In what turned out to be the only Melbourne show on this tour (with the Rochford Winery show cancelled due to the inclement November weather) John Mellencamp and Sheryl Crow proved conclusively that the passage of time has treated their respective catalogues well.
The Melbourne weather prevented me getting to Rod Laver in time to catch Shane Nicholson, but by all reports (including Sheryl Crow’s) he was impressive.

Sheryl Crow made is clear that her status as a “support act” wasn’t going to mean we get the stripped back version of her touring band. Crow was joined on the diamond shaped stage by a band of six plus two backing singers in a line-up that actually out-numbered the headliner.

Now here’s the thing about Sheryl Crow. I thought she made a promising start with the impossibly catchy All I Wanna Do (albeit in a Rickie Lee Jones-lite kinda way). From there I felt she just kinda blended into the mainstream with the occasional hit that kept her in a record deal. I certainly didn’t perceive her as an important artist; more a respectable purveyor of decent pop confectionery.

I think I slightly under-rated her.

I’m happy to move her up a few rungs on my personal pecking order, on the basis of sheer weight of good songs with a few bonus points for her own quality taste in music.

There wasn’t too many slow moments in her set – Songs like My Favourite Mistake, Every Day Is A Winding Road, Soak Up The Sun and If It Makes You Happy (which admittedly did plod a bit) are very solid fan favourites but the highlights included the lesser known Out Of Our Heads (a terrific anthemic pop/disco/calypso song), a very good version of Crowded House’s Mean To Me and a solid version of First Cut Is The Deepest supplemented her own hits very well, with the countrified Strong Enough being another popular song.

That’s plenty of good songs to fill 45 minutes. Crow is a good singer without being a mind blowing vocalist, her band is professional and impressive without being jaw dropping. All in all she more than help up her part of the bargain struck with the audience willing to pay for an international support act.

John Mellencamp has come to terms with his place in the rock panthenon. He’s probably be on a par with Tom Petty, a couple of rungs below Bruce Springsteen when the rankings of the American heartland rockers are set in stone.
He offers plenty as a live performer. He’s not afraid to give the audience the hits they want – Paper and Fire, Pink Houses, Small Town, Jack and Diane and even a brief acoustic reprise of I Need A Lover all get an airing and the naturally get the expected response. Even the indisputably cheesy R.O.C.K In The USA is excusable placed where it was towards the end of the set.

But it is the balance of the set that actually lifts Mellencamp into rarefied territory as an important voice. There are two sections of the show that particularly worked for me. His solo acoustic brace of songs starting with Minutes To Memories and leading through the new Longest Day and Big Daddy underlines his credentials as a storyteller and emotionally poignant lyricist not afraid to question his own morality.

Later a powerful run of songs starting with the incomparable Scarecrow and grinding through the Troubled Land (also from the new album), another new song If I Die Sudden and Love and Happiness became the cornerstone of the concert for me. If I Die Sudden was a revelation. Somewhat maudlin on the new album Love Death Love Freedom, this song electrified in concert becomes a stomping tour de force.

Mellencamp does seem pre-occupied with issues of mortality and taking stock at this stage of his 59th year. He tells a story about the grandma who died aged 100 and one about his best mate who also died. He references one song by saying he wrote it when his wife was 13 years old and for the encore he is joined on stage by his own 13 year old son playing guitar. The theme is clearly generational and he handles it with a healthy degree of cheerful resignation.

Mellencamp may have mellowed a little across the journey and although he still has strong political and social positioning he delivers it in the clear context of him accepting his role as an entertainer. He draws from a very deep catalogue of great songs in a very smart way and provides a well balanced set that amply displays why he is legitimately a high level, enduring rock artist.