John (Cougar) Mellencamp Rocks Chicago on July 22, 2008

     John (Cougar) Mellencamp played to a packed house at Chicago’s Northerly Isle Pavilion on Tuesday night, July 22nd, in the outdoor venue that is just right: not too big, not too small. If the concert is on a Wednesday or a Saturday, you’re also going to be treated to the fireworks from Navy Pier, and it is one of the best concert venues in town, bar none. The “Chicago/Doobie Brothers” concert just a week or so ago was similarly good on a wonderful night for a concert outdoors, rain or shine.
There was a lead-in singer who was a Sheryl Crow wannabee. She was unimpressive, singing a song with a lyric about “taking my joy” (If you want to know who was ‘taking the joy,” it was the singer, whose name was Cindy or Lucinda Williams) and also singing about bumblebees. The crowd did not seem to get in to her set, but, mercifully, it was short.
Then, some comic from Los Angeles came out and wanted to read the crowd a poem. The poem primarily consisted of repeating the lyrics to John Mellencamp’s well-known songs and he was a perfect example of an L.A. Ego Gone Wild. His “poem’:was not good and the crowd wanted him to quit with the pontificating and get off the stage. It soon began to resemble the Apollo Theater talent competition, where those lacking in talent are booed off the stage. It was hard to feel sorry for the guy, though, as he even was in to discussing how tall he is (like anyone cared.)
We were in the bleachers this night. The thing about Northerly Isle is that, in the bleachers, you have plenty of room. On the main floor, they pack the folding chairs in so tight at times that you feel like you’re on a bad airline. I’d rather be in the bleachers, and it has nothing to do with the price of the tickets, although they are cheaper there. There is also a staircase that leads down to the VIP room and to the rest room trailers, which are among the cleanest and best maintained concert rest rooms anywhere. (The worst I have ever encountered were at a Rolling Stones concert in the Metrodome or Hubert Humphrey Dome or whatever it is dubbed in Minneapolis, years ago, which were filthy; that is the inflatable dome that will collapse if everyone leaves at once, supposedly.)
Mellencamp did not disappoint on this balmy spring night, and he sang almost all his hits. He even brought out his 13-year-old son, whom he referred to as “Speck” to play near the end of the show. The only song that this Mellencamp fan did not hear was “Hurts So Good.” He opened with “Little Pink Houses” and closed wth “The Authority Song.”
All-in-all, it was a great concert on a slightly breezy night, but one that seemed to please everyone present (except possibly the guy who tried to read the boring poem that had nothing to do with anything and held up the appearance of the headliner while he hogged the spotlight.)