On March 15th, I attended John Mellencamp’s Plain Spoken Tour in Jacksonville, Florida.  My husband and I had terrific seats right in the center on the 12th row which was perfect for the Jacksonville’s Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts venue.

John Mellencamp’s still got it!  Yes, after forty plus years as a musician, he still rocks.  His voice is perfection and his songs are still relevant.  Although he did play a number of songs that I did not recognize, they were really good and I enjoyed them nonetheless.  When he played a “little ditty about Jack and Diane” he brought all of us to our feet.

All-in-all, I realized that he is just a Midwestern boy from Indiana who likes to play great music.  After listening to his music old and new, I did make an observation.  His music is permeated with two themes: religion and life and death.  I suppose anyone can make  suppositions as to why those two themes dominate his music.  Perhaps, it is his small town upbringing.

As for the show, John Mellencamp sang, danced, talked to the crowd, made off color jokes, and sang some more.  He truly put on a show.  The stage belonged to him and he was most comfortable owning it.  I truly enjoyed this concert and I would go again if I had the opportunity!

Familiar hits from his set list were as follows: Small Town, Human Wheels, Check It Out, Jack and Diane, Paper in Fire, Crumblin’ Down, Authority Song, Pink Houses, and Cherry Bomb