Newport News Daily Press Norfolk Concert Review

By Mike Holtzclaw

Mellencamp, the relative youngster of the gang at 57, performed a good selection of his trademark populist anthems, backed at times by his six-piece band and playing solo on some tunes, even going a cappella on the nostalgic "Cherry Bomb." Keeping with the tone of the evening, fiddler Miriam Sturm at one point filled in between songs with a quick run through "Home on the Range."

In addition to hits like "Pink Houses" and "Small Town," Mellencamp introduced a brand-new tune, "Save Some Time to Dream," which covered some of the same ground as Dylan's "Forever Young" but directed more at an adult than at a child. As though to prove he still has some kid in him, Mellencamp closed his set with a raucous rendition of his petulantly defiant "Authority Song" (vowing that "I still feel the same way today as I did when I wrote this").

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