John Mellencamp has made headlines more than once for snapping at fans that he believes might be a little out of line at his shows.
And, well … he did it again, but this time it seems like he had some fun with it, and the crowd got a laugh out of it, too.
So, what happened?
Well, video showed the 73-year-old singing his hit, “Jack & Diane,” during a recent show when he stops to give the crowd a piece of his mind for their efforts in singing along. Mellencamp is playing along on his guitar and singing with the crowd following along before he stopped and began to shake his head in the clip. The singer then throws his arms out to his side.
“I guess you guys must have been absent the day they taught English poetry,”he said as he rubbed his head. “Songs are really simple. They have verses and choruses, and then they have a bridge. This particular song has two verses and then the chorus. You guys sang the first verse and said ‘(expletive) off’ to the second verse. We’re just going straight to the chorus.
“And I think the second verse is funny, so I’m gonna sing it anyway.”
Mellencamp then went right back into the song, and, again, the crowd seemed to get a kick out of it.
The last time Mellencamp made headlines for setting a crowd straight, things didn’t go so well. During a show in Toledo last spring, he stopped to tell the crowd a story when someone yelled, “Play some music.”
The crowd groaned and seemed to disagree with the heckler, but that didn’t seem to matter too much to Mellencamp. He paused for a moment and then he let it out.
“What do you think I’ve been doing you (expletive),” the singer responded.
He then waived his finger in the air.
“Here’s the thing man, you don’t know me,” he said. “You don’t (expletive) know me.”
He then instructed his people to “find this guy and let me see him after the show.”
So, certainly sounds like he was ready for a fight.
After another fan said something, he told the crowd he could stop the show and go home.
“Tell you what I’m going to do, since you have been so wonderful, I’m going to cut about 10 songs out of the show,” he said.
Mellencamp then began singing his hit, “Jack and Diane,” before stopping just seconds in and saying, “You know what? Show’s over.”
He then walked off stage.
The Toledo Blade said he did return to the stage about five minutes later and performed several more songs for the crowd.
He later opened up about that interaction in an interview with The Washington Post.
“It just hits me sideways,” he said.
And, while he didn’t specifically name Toledo, he did, sort of, get around to situations like that involving his shows.
Planning to go? Listen up.
“I do expect etiquette inside of the theater, the same way you would at a Broadway show,” he told the Post. “My shows are not really concerts anymore. They’re performances, and there’s a difference between a performance and a concert. Look, I’m not for everyone anymore. I’m just not. And if you want to come and scream and yell and get drunk, don’t come to my show.”
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.pennlive.com ’
