I may have been the only person I know who wasn’t at one of the three John Mellencamp concerts he played last weekend at the Chicago Theater. However, I have a favorite Mellencamp concert memory to share.
John Mellencamp doing his thing in concert.
Since 1985 I’ve seen John Mellencamp in concert many times. In arenas, outdoor venues, football stadiums, at Farm Aid, radio studios, you name it, I’ve been there. Yet my favorite Mellencamp memory was when he was the warm-up act for the up & coming Chicago based power pop trio called Material Issue. John and Material Issue were label mates on Mercury Records, and the show happened on October 11th 1991. (Let me backtrack a bit)
I was producing the Murphy in the Morning show at WKQX, Q-101 FM and Mellencamp was booked to come on with us and promote his new album “Whenever We Wanted” which hit stores three days earlier. We were already playing the lead single “Get a Leg Up.” His visit went fine, we were warned not to ask John to sing that early in the morning but Murf coaxed the Indiana rocker to take a turn on his Gibson ‘Songbird’ guitar and John obliged with a verse of “Small Town” and then a verse of the John Prine song “Dear Abby.” Murf knew that song too and joined in on the warbling. After a quick visit to our sales staff in the conference room we walked John and his people out. Yet, I wasn’t done seeing him that day.
Here’s the Hoosier rocker and yours truly posing in the Q-101 studios.
Unbeknownst to some, Mellencamp and his band were set to make an un-announced concert appearance in some towns where they did radio to promote the new music and this Friday night would be no different. The afore mentioned Material Issue was already booked to headline a show at the Riviera Theatre and now Mr. “Hurts So Good” and his players would be the opening act. I was put on the guest list and got to sit in my favorite reserved seating area; the first row of the Riviera balcony. I always referred to this locale as being the “Abe Lincoln Seats” because we had a similar vantage point Abe & Mary Todd had that fateful night at Ford’s Theatre. Sitting behind me that night I was happy to see my longtime friend and record promoter Dave Ross who was in town from L.A. and made it to the show.
The place was well filled, the house lights drop and the band, save for Mellencamp took their places onstage. Drummer Kenny Aronoff rapped on a cowbell a couple of times and I’m thinking “That sounds like the opening to ‘Honky Tonk Woman’.” It was, and with some twang from guitarist David Grissom and fiddle player Lisa Germano sawing away with her bow, we were getting a country version of the Rolling Stones classic. As the intro almost wraps up, out walked John, lit cigarette in hand and he took to the microphone to sing “I met a gin soaked barroom queen in Memphis, she tried to take me upstairs for a ride.” This was one of the cooler ways to start a show and the Mellencamp group really sent up that Stones classic in a fun and novel way.
The Riviera crowd went insane, a surprise cover to an iconic song and seeing this guy who normally plays hockey arenas in such an intimate place that holds just 2,500 people? This was a special night. Mellencamp and his band played their new single, rocked out “Hurts So Good” as the crowd took over singing the first verse, then there was also a visit with “Jack and Diane”, “Small Town”, “Lonely Ole Night” and my favorite of his tunes, “Minutes to Memories.”
The album cover for the 1991 album “Whenever We Wanted.” The woman on the left is model Elaine Irwin who would go on to become Mellencamp’s 3rd wife. Not sure why she needed to be in bare feet during this photo and video shoot.
The band wasn’t finished with their covers as they took on Free’s “Alright Now” and John forgot a few of the words mid-song but that didn’t matter. The whole set lasted about forty minutes as it wrapped with a rousing version of “Pink Houses.” John and his band took their bows and were done with the surprise appearance.
I stuck around for Material Issue’s following set. After a couple of songs played back to back they stopped down for a quick greeting to their fans. Lead singer and guitarist Jim Ellison (rest in peace) then asked, “What did you think of that opening act?” The crowd cheered out their approval and Jim dryly responded with something along the lines of, ‘Yeah, that guy’s pretty good. He might make it someday. I’ll have to put in a good word for him.” Everyone laughed and then went on to enjoy the rest of Material Issue’s set of power pop songs.
Leaving that night and heading to my car I saw a couple of long white passenger vans pulling out from the back alley of the Riviera. The vans approached the corner where I was standing and inside were members of John Mellencamp’s band. I gave a quick wave and they waved back then took off into the cool fall Chicago night.
This short but hits packed John Mellencamp performance was my favorite of his for a couple of reasons. One, it was rare to see the guy perform in such a small room with great acoustics. Two, as well as they played, this was a ‘let’s have fun and cut loose’ type of show. That’s the best kind of concert to see and hear.
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