THE laid-back American rock of John Mellencamp and Sheryl Crow was the perfect accompaniment to the beautiful weather that coincided with the summer season’s first Evening on the Green concert on Saturday.
Coming onstage while the sun was still high above the sold-out crowd at Sandalford Winery in Caversham, Crow was in high spirits as she kicked off her hour-long set with Change from her 1996 self-titled release.
Singles from her debut, Tuesday Night Music Club – Can’t Cry Anymore and the All I Wanna Do – followed to the crowd’s glee, and Crow was pitch-perfect as she worked through many of the hits in her 15-year-old back catalogue including My Favourite Mistake and her cover of Cat Stevens’ First Cut Is The Deepest.
Although known for her strong political views, she kept these on the backburner, with a Barack Obama badge on her guitar strap the only sign of her passionate opinions.
When she received a lukewarm question to her question to the crowd of how they are doing, she followed it up with “Isn’t this supposed to be a winery?” which unsurprisingly received huge cheers all round.
A free-spirited cover of Crowded House’s Mean to Me had the crowd up and dancing throughout the green before playing a song that perfectly described the afternoon’s proceedings, Soak up the Sun.
With only a relatively short intermission, the main act modestly strolled onstage to rapturous applause wearing an even more modest ensemble, yet it was something that is almost to be expected from this working man’s muso.
Kicking off with the classic Pink Houses, it was revealed quite quickly that we were in for a treat of a performance.
At a time when change is the dominant feeling in America, and subsequently the world, Mellencamp’s songs, such as Paper in Fire and Small Town, struck an emotional chord, quite often hitting close to home because of how deeply they portray the middle-class struggle.
A long acoustic section left some of the sun-drained crowd impatiently anticipating more “hits”, yet those that took time to listen to Mellencamp’s almost poetic spoken and lyric messages would have certainly been moved.
A blistering Rain on the Scarecrow most certainly woke up those parts of the crowd who had switched off before Mellencamp moved into party mode with R.O.C.K in the USA before ending a great day of music with the sing-along anthem Jack & Diane.
While some may have been disappointed that is wasn’t exactly a greatest hits set, judging by the exuberant fans still singing his songs after the man himself was long gone, he definitely didn’t need to go through the motions.