John! Bob! Willie; Outlaw Music Festival with John Mellencamp, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson 9/8 @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheater Review

Last Year, I bit the bullet and finally went to see Willie Nelson on his Outlaw Music Festival stop in St. Louis, well Maryland Heights. And I was going mainly because I really wanted to see Robert Plant and Allison Krauss. When this years date's were announced it was another artist on the bill, that had my interest, John Mellencamp. One of the few classic rock singer/songwriters I haven't seen. Add in Willie and the imcomprable Bob Dylan and it sounded like an evern better deal than last year. (The weird thing was the tickets in pretty much the same row as last year were slightly cheaper, even with the added heavies.)

Like last year this show wound up being on a Sunday night and like last year I went with my dad. Thankfully it was September and not in June like last year. It was warm late in the afternoon, but very tolerable and cooled down in the low 50's by the time we were leaving. We did a bit of running around and eating before hand, not in a major hurry to catch the opening act, Southern Avenue, but we arrived right as they were starting their set at 5:15. As mentioned our seats were in the same row as last year, Row N, but with a dead center view.

Southern Avenue is a six piece band from Memphis and they have a soul, blues and gospel sound. Their set kind of strayed later, but the second through the fourth songs were really strong and their musical sound was very evocative of 1960s music, which I dug. And of course the vocals were powerful. They played either nine or ten songs for around 40 minutes.

After a 20ish minute set change or so, John Mellencamp and his band took to the stage. As he was strolling out to the microphone, he was smoking a cigarette and flicked it to the side of the stage which a roadie had to corral up. Mellencamp started off strong, with what I'd call it his lesser greatest hits. But he brought the fire and attitude as did his band. I was telling my dad, we'd have to see how much he'd be cantankerous as he's on the "beer and circus tour," I've heard him call it before (Which I assume to mean, playing the same rock and roll in areanas/amphitheaters and more aspect on the show instead of music). But even if it he didn't want to be there, he didn't seem to show it as he was energized and seemed to be having a ball as much as the fans were.

There did seem to be a lot of deceptions or rearrangements with his music and the intros. Or maybe the fans don't recognize melody. I'd seen videos of him doing Jack & Diane from some of his theater shows over the past year, where he makes fun of the audience who start singing the "Life Goes On," chorus before it starts. And he gently chides the audience that the format of the song is verse-verse-chorus, even if the second verse isn't very good. He's remarked that's the only way the song sounds good, him playing solo acoustic and one of the song's he's tired of playing over the years. Of course he does pause it some to confuse the audience. He did the same thing here but it didn't seem the audience really bit too much. But one guy hilariously started singing out loud the chorus part, which made Mellencamp pause, and say, "That motherfucker sounds better than me. Why don't you come up here and do this fucking song?" Later on in the song and asked, "Who's that loud mouth mother fucker who was singing..it's you...No, no by himself. Sing it real loud like you were!" He didn't quite have the volume, and Mellencamp remarked "Give him a hand. I have to tell you Jack, you were kind of sucky. But you tried, so you get credit for trying." Video of it here.

Mellencamp's got a little more rasp and husk in his voice, but the fire and attitude are still there. He played a 12 song set at a hair over an hour. He hit most of his well-known songs and his backing six piece band was stellar. He did kind of bring his stage set up of a couple wooden mannequins standing at the back of the stage. Kind of reminds of how Neil Young will set up his stage with props and decorations that make no sense to most.

Right after his set started, a group he bought split tickets, asked us to move into theirs to the left of us, so they could all sit together. We obliged, as it didn't effect the view either way. The whole block of seats in front of us, had a few strays seat slide down, but looking the day before I don't think ever got sold. There was definitely more empty seats than last year. Being in unoffical start of Fall versus June, probably played a factor in that.

After 25 minutes or so, the stage changeover was complete and the stage went dark, and the one-of-a-kind Bob Dylan and his band took the stage. I'd glanced at his set lists from earlier this summer and had a general idea of what he was going to play. Thankfully he's moved on from his stale set list of playing the same set list for the last five years or so. It's still not what he was doing 15 years ago, mixing up and swapping out songs. And people have been living under a rock the last 40 years or are just ignorant thinking that's he's going to waltz out his greatest hits or play the things they think he should be playing. Suffice to say it's hiliarous to see people complain about it still. He's not the guy with an acoustic guitar in 1963 anymore. Hell, if anything he's a crooner.
This was my fourth time seeing Dylan and first since seeing him at Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis in the Fall of 2010. He had a four piece backing band, including well-known session drummer Jim Keltner and they sounded pretty tight, as expected and trying to keep pace with Dylan's phrases and rhythms. Dylan himself sounded fairly clear at times, though whipping into his quick growl at times. He opened with familiar rhythms of Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 a major song of his I'd never seen him do, followed by another 'Greatest Hit' likewise never witnessed by myself,It Ain't Me Babe

Dylan knocked out 16 songs in his 75 minute portion of the show with his weird mix of covers thrown in, and Willie's harmonica man, Mickey Raphael, joining him on the last two numbers, Simple Twist of Fate and Ballad of a Thin Man. It was a decent performance, but kind of why I haven't had the itch to see Dylan in last 14 years. Definitely more suited to theaters and similar venues than this.

And after his first song, the security guards were hawks enforcing his no photographing/videoing rule. I've always wondered what they'd do if the whole audience pulled them all out? I'm all for people paying attention to the music and the experience. But some people truly want something for the memories of the experience rather than the selfie/posting self-absorbed people out there.

The final set change took 20ish minutes, setting up for Willie's sparse stage set up. Backed this year without his son Micah, Waylon Payne, the son of one of his long timer guitar player's filled Micah's role of playing next Willie. He also only had a four piece band, without a piano player compared to last years set up. And like last year, Willie played for around an hour, with Payne, taking a few vocals on classic country songs to give Willie a rest.

And he pretty much played the exact same set-list in the same spots as last year. Maybe that's his standard and helps pull him on auto-pilot, knowing familiar songs and routines. But as my dad noted later, you could see there was a decline in just over a year. His playing wasn't quite as sharp and he seemed to rely more on Payne to help keep him along. Hopefully it's just a case of dealing with weather changes and fighting a bug or something, as he's vocal's seemed more off as well. But he's 91 years old and it's still a hell of a performance for someone travelling the highways like he is. And everyone enjoyed it, which is the main thing

And the truly amazing part was after the concert ended. I already mentioned more empty seats compared to last year and quite a few people left after Dylan's set. But once we started the rush out into the parking lot, as I was going through it, I noticed that it looked half empty. My dad took a few mintues to catch up back to the car or we'd have been gone sooner but once we started leaving it only took ten minutes to get out and back on I-70! That's lightspeed compared to my most recent trips to Riverport.

John Mellencamp Set List

John Cockers
Paper In Fire
Ghost Towns Along the Highway
Small Town
Check It Out
Longest Days
Jack & Diane
Rain on the Scarecrow
Lonely Ol' Night
Crumblin Down
Pink Houses
Hurts So Good

Bob Dylan Set List

Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
It Ain't Me Babe
Love Sick
Little Queenie
Mr. Blue
Early Roman Kings
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
Under the Red Sky
Things Have Changed
Stella Blue
Six Days on the Road
Can't Wait
Ill Be Your Baby Tonight
Soon After Midnight
Simple Twist of Fate
Ballad of a Thin Man

Willie Nelson Set List

Whiskey River
Stay a Little Longer
Still is Still Moving To Me
Bloody Mary Morning
I Never Cared for You
Workin' Man Blues
Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To be Cowboys
Angel Flying to Close to the Ground
On the Road Again
You Were Always on My Mind
Good Hearted Woman
Help Me Make It Through the Night
Move It On Over
Georgia (On Mind Mind)
I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train
Me and Bobby McGee
Last Leaf
Still Not Dead
Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die
Write Your Own Songs
Will the Circle Be Unbroken/I'll Fly Away
It's Hard to be Humble