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John Mellencamp - Toledo, OH - October 21st, 2016

I... I'm not sure how to word this correctly, but WOW. Did all that JUST happen!? For real it did. Yes I did just see John Mellencamp at the Stranahan Theater in Toledo. And yes my heads are still in the clouds... you know how I say I'm always lucky at concerts? As if ya don't believe me already, here's more damn proof to make you jealous! Driving from Detroit to Toledo actually took awhile. But we made it to the Stranahan right as Carlene Carter, John's opening act, came onstage. Thank god we did not miss her act, because god she could sing those songs like magic. She actually had a grand piano on stage and played it. Helluva cool opening show, especially from a country act. But that's what you expect from a Carter girl! And then after her act, we (me and my friend Roberta) went into the main area and waited in line for Carlene's autographs. But it was so nerve wrecking. Just wanting to get back into the venue in time to not miss Mr. Mellencamp was an atrocious feeling! I was shaking in my legs and felt like I wanted to vomit every step I took. But the line did good to us, and we made it to Carlene with good timing. I let her sign my Plain Spoïken CD- and it was EPIC. She asked me how to spell my name and she was real sweet and nice about it ☺ and I told her how much I loved her music and was binge watching all her videos lol. She smiled and laughed all friendly and then I proceeded to ask her, "What's it like to work with John Mellencamp?" And her eyes got big and she basically told me that he was a hard working man and she got along with him because she is very goal-driven, too. She said she absolutely loved working with him, but also made it very noticeable that he can be a bit set in his own ways, too. But we all know THAT 😉 After we talked, I asked her for a photo and she said "oh sure!" so I went around the table, and she squeezed me into a hug and smiled a big, cheeky smile. She smelled pretty good, actually, like perfume. Roberta captured a couple pics and then we thanked her and then we were off on our way to see John... Let me just skip the intro. Because when he came on stage, I thought I was dreaming. My 3rd time seeing him and I don't even feel consciously awake. And yet I still screamed on the very TOP of my lungs for him and danced the whole time. As expected from me. 😂 He opened with "Lawless Times", a new song. Though I was the only one who knew it and I'm sure John could tell! After "Troubled Man" and "Minutes To Memories", things really started to kick with "Small Town". But we all noticed something through our intensive screaming and utter excitement. John was coughing often and at one point had tilted his head down and looked like he was about to vomit or something. There was a deep, intense stare in his eyes- though it only lasted a few seconds, it felt like a whole minute. Shortly after that, he revealed to us that he was sick and they nearly cancelled the show!!! But he said, "naw I can't do that". Thank goodness he continued. One of the ladies working here told us that he had been practicing here ALL DAY- he must've reaaally wanted to have a perfect show. His devotion to his fans is so sweet. Even though he rarely shows enthusiasm, you can tell he cares. Otherwise he wouldn’t tour, or play these songs we love. He does this for US, his fans 💖 Speaking of enthusiasm, the crowd was EXCELLENT and full of energy from top to bottom. For an older crowd, the place was really rockin'. John tried to speak, but every 5 seconds a fan would scream various things from "I LOVE YOU" to "I WANNA CATCH YOUR COLD!!" 😉 he had no time to speak because the fans would literally interrupt him with screams. Hollers. Whistles. People even threw stuff up on stage (light stuff, not beer bottles) until he finally, in a jokingly manner, told us to basically "shut the fuck up" with a laugh. We loved it and ate it up like hungry wolves! Again the fans interrupted him over and over with showers of love and affection until he said, "alright are we gonna stop?" But hiding a smile behind his sarcasm! Still, more hoots and hollers and "I LOVE YOU"s filled the air until John just said, "I'll just wait until you're finished". And he stepped away from the microphone. A small smile spread across his face as he soaked up all the praise and sheer aroma of a thousand adoring fans there for him. I bet that felt simply wonderful. After killing the man with kindness, John started to lighten up into a better mood and coughed less. At last the audience was able to hush down enough to let John speak briefly. "Okay... take two..." John joked, attempting to begin his story now. He talked about how his grandma lived to be 100 again- a really heartfelt story that led into a beautiful song called "Longest Days". Thankfully nobody inturruped him during that acoustic number. (I have to rush through the rest now because I NEED to go to bed but let me get through the highlights.) John played "Pop Singer"! From 1989, a rare deep cut from the past that he has never done live before!! Now THAT was a surprise and a treat! He sounded perfect, even with a rougher voice from being sick! You bet I danced like a maniac!! Halfway through the show, I decided to try to go up to the front row. I had this rose I've been dying the whole time to give him. Since there was a small walkway near me, I walked up right into the 3rd row! Nobody cared, so I just stayed there for a few songs. And that when the really reeeeally good stuff began to happen. During "Authority Song", I could literally feel the ground shake. At first I thought I was fainting or drunk or something, but then other people began to feel it and everything got really intense after that. Everyone was holding on, people were dancing so much that it felt like we were rocking on a damn boat! I thought they were gonna start a Mellencamp mosh pit for a second there And that's when it happened. It freakin' HAPPENED! No, John did not wink at me. No, I did not touch his hand. Nope. Even BETTER. What could be better than that? Hah. How about THIS: He walked right up to me, stared into my eyes; no longer intensely, but kind of lovingly actually, and then blew me a KISS!!! NO KIDDING!!!!! He has NEVER done that to a fan before at all these times I've seen him. This makes it so special and intimate for me. Like HOW do you respond to John Mellencamp blowing you a fucking kiss!? You don't- my jaw just dropped and everybody turned and looked at me like I was the star of the night. Really after this kiss I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be John's new girlfriend. So then he played "Pink Houses" and I moved one row closer- 2nd row. The lady in front of me was really nice about it, and I was thankful for that because she didn't have to let me up there. But everybody thought its was so cute how I was tying to get up there to give him the rose and all! 🌹 I guess John thought so too! And last but not least, he rocked into "Cherry Bomb", where the greatest thing happened... so I squeezed my way into the front row and then I was in the PERFECT spot. I waited and waited until he made his rounds towards me. He stood in front of me and looked down at me, singing with all this soul, joy and passion in his heart. I could feel his presence he was so close to me now. I looked up at him like he was a god, and then handed him the rose so slowly and carefully... and I held my breath. "Please take the rose John, oh please don't walk away!" I begged in my head. "Please...let it happen." I open my eyes to see him look at me and grab the rose- he did it. He took the rose and gave me a smile- not a fake smile, not a cheesy smile, but a genuine, sincere smile from his heart! Can I faint now please? He then put the rose down inside his guitar player's (Mike's) suit and he played with the rose on his suit during the them whole song!! He even had it in his mouth! Omg!! It was so sweet and funny. I was so happy to give him that rose. It truly made my night. Now this last part was totally worth it... after the show, we waited outside for a whole hour before security told us John was not signing stuff. Others left after awhile, bit we stayed in our car until everybody left and we just "stalked" John. As we passed around a corner, we saw Miriam (his violin player) in her car, flying past us in a hurry haha. It was about a half past midnight when John's airstream began to depart. We stalked and followed the whole time hahaha... he was in there, and we KNEW it! Then we began to scream because we were driving behind one of John's tour buses, and John's airstream was behind us!! So now John Mellencamp was actually following us!! OMG! We were lodged in between his buses for awhile!! We were so close that were could see the flat screen TV's in one of the buses... Eventually we switched routes... sadly. We said goodbye as John's airstream went up the ramp to the expressway and we did not follow. Sad, so sad 😢 but we had so much fun while we were at it. We were right there driving with is buses. How PERFECT!!!??? Now I MUST go to bed. But you tell me how LUCKY I am to have John Mellencamp blow me a KISS!? I never even had to ask! I am lucky as hell againnn... I fuckin' love John Mellencamp and he will always know... I wonder what he did with that rose!?

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