John Mellencamp pulled out all the stops and many of his large catalog of hits for his summer Dancing With Words tour stopover on July 24, 2026 at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA. It was a packed house of devoted fans. The night was filled with great music and a reminder that no matter who you are or where you come from music is the absolute equalizer for our American soul.
John Mellencamp is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame since 2008 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame since 2018. Mellencamp has released 26 studio albums and 4 live albums since 1976. Eleven of his albums have hit the Top 10 on Billboard’s Albums chart, and ten of his singles were in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. He has more than proven his staying power in America’s rock history.
John Mellencamp’s band for the tour consists of Mike Wanchic on guitar, Andy York on guitar, Lisa Germano on violin, Dane Clark on drums, John Gunnell on bass, Troye Kinnett on keyboards, Crystal Taliefero on percussion and vocals and Eli Norman on percussion and vocals.
The band took the stage and started the concert with “Lawless Times.” Mellencamp has always in his music represented the working men and women who like most of us don’t do extraordinary things. We get up go to work, work hard and raise families. This is all interspersed with a vacation or weekend off to enjoy simple pleasures of friends and family with the music of our times running in the background. Right now it seems that is interrupted by the news of the day making us all get the sense we are living in lawless times. But, for this night Mellencamp helped us give that up for a night of nostalgia and a “Jack & Diane” kind of night where there is innocence and a whole life in front of us is possible.
Mellencamp’s “Dancing With Words” tour is a compilation of hits he has accumulated over many decades. He decided to roll out the hits everyone asks for at each concert, but he usually does not perform all in one set. It was obvious during the whole night if you looked in the audience, that he hit the hammer precisely on the head of the nail. The crowd ate it up. Most knew the words to every song. These songs were part of our youth, our middle age, our growing up.
The night was broken into two sets with a fifteen-minute intermission during which a four-song video played on the Tron to keep the crowd involved even though the band was offstage.
The first set was what could have been a complete fantastic concert in itself and the fact that before he left the stage for the break Mellencamp said we’ll be back so get ready to dance was a testament to his stamina. The fact that at 74 years old he played and sang twelve songs and was ready to come back on after a short break and perform what turn out to be twelve more is just fantastic. His voice was strong and had that familiar gravely tone he’s always had. I saw him in concert twenty years ago and though his body had aged his singing has not.
These days some bands or singers kind of hang in there past their shelf life, not John Mellencamp. From the first note to the last note of the night, he showed that he can still R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A., or anywhere else for that matter. He and the band had the audience on their feet through much of the concert. It probably helps him that a great deal of the time he didn’t need to sing as much and just hold the mic toward the audience because he had his own chorus of thousands of voices singing as loudly as they could along with him.
I looked around at the crowd during many of the songs and the entire Xfinity Center was awash with people smiling, dancing, nudging the person next to them with bigger smiles when another of their favorite songs first notes started at the beginning of a song. Many of his songs are so ingrained in us from hearing them all our life it only took the first couple of notes to play and faces lit up. I go to many concerts and usually leave thinking or hearing someone say “oh I wish they would have played ….” Not this night. I can’t think of one song they didn’t play that would think make me think that. They covered the whole spectrum from songs that made you think and reflect to ones that wiped any thoughts from your head, and you just wanted to dance and sing.
During the last song of the night, “Hurts So Good,” Mellencamp invited a young boy up onstage to join the band in singing the final song of the night. He did really well, especially in front of thousands of people.
I have to give it up to John Mellencamp and his entire band, they gave the audience a night to truly remember and a concert beyond any expectation I had of the night.
If you get the chance to see Mellencamp on this Dancing with Words tour, don’t hesitate, go. You won’t regret it and it’s only happening through August 12.
For more information about John Mellencamp and the Dancing With Words Tour, visit John Mellencamp
Review by Donna Erichsen
Photos by George Bekris
Setlist:
Lawless Times
Small Town
Lonely Ol’ Night
Paper in Fire
Human Wheels
Walk Tall
R.O.C.K. In the U.S.A.
Love and Happiness
Our Country
Check It Out
Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)
Jack & Diane
Intermission
I Need a Lover
Minutes to Memories
Your Life is Now
Wild Night
Ain’t Even Done with the Night
Pop Singer
Rain on the Scarecrow
Authority Song
Crumbling Down
Pink Houses
Cherry Bomb
Hurts So Good