John Cougar Mellencamp

July 9, 1999

He played at the Coral Sky Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach. As usual, the Coral Sky Ampitheater disappointed us, making us wish we didn't have to see another concert there again. So many great groups come here to play, yet it is so uncomfortable for the audience. Whether we're forced to sit on the hill and get soaked, or cattle crammed into the seats on a windless and muggy night, we almost always retreat to the benches near the food vendors. We heard more than one person complain about the prices. And, as usual, there's always something that the people who work there do to piss us off. It was ten o'clock, and we were second in line to buy some beer. Suddenly, a man with a walkie talkie approached the counter and informed the server that beer sales were now closed. We pleaded for the guy to "be cool" and serve the rest of the line (which was just us and a man in front of us), but he refused. If we had known about the 10 p.m. cut off, we may not have gone to the bathroom first. We sheepishly returned to our seats to tell Dan and Kristin that we had failed to get us all drinks for the final hour of the show. All of this was really too bad because John Mellancamp put on a great show. He played a range of powerful sing-a-longs such as Pink Houses, Paper in Fire, Jack and Diane, Rockin' in the U.S.A. and Hurts so Good. He never stopped moving and they rearranged some of the more familiar songs to make them fresh. And if you're going to go see a John Mellancamp show, you gotta go with Indiana Dan. Thankfully, Dan and Kristin did notice that the beer service would end early, and offered us a beer to share through the end of the show.