Scattered thoughts on John Mellencamp at Pine Knob, 9-15-24

I went up to Pine Knob, the storied Detroit-area shed from the 70s, to see the Outlaw Music Festival this past weekend. I went to see Dylan (which I wrote about over at the great Dylan newsletter, Flagging the Double E’s) and booked it out as soon as he was done, no shame. I’ve seen Willie, the show was sold out, I had to write and didn’t want to be sitting in traffic for an hour afterwards before then driving home 45 minutes. But I found myself having many thoughts during Mellencamp’s set (which I thoroughly enjoyed) so I thought I’d try to work some of it out for here for my paid subscribers. (Okay, I tried but apparently this went to everyone. Sorry!) This isn’t very polished, at all, so I hope you’ll bear with me.