John Mellencamp

John Mellecamp has announced his U.S. tour “Live and In Person 2023” is set to kick off in this month. The tour is presented by longtime promoter AEG Presents and sponsored by Turner Classic Movies. The tour will see 76 shows beginning with two nights in Bloomington, Indiana on February 5 and February 6 and concluding with two nights in South Bend, Indiana on June 23 and 24. The tour includes multiple nights in New York City, Chicago, Vancouver, Nashville, Clearwater, Minneapolis and more, as well as stops in TCM’s home of Atlanta, Los Angeles and other major cities across the U.S. Mellencamp’s “Live And In Person 2023” tour will hit the Houston area with a performance at the Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land on February 25th.

The partnership with TCM is a landmark collaboration and a first for Mellencamp, who has never previously had a tour promotional partner in all his years of performing live. Mellencamp is a member of the Rock and Roll and Songwriters Halls of Fame, a recipient of the John Steinbeck Award, ASCAP Foundation’s Champion Award, The Woody Guthrie Award, the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and most recently, the Founders Award, the top honor assigned by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Born October 7, 1951 in Seymour, Indiana, John Mellencamp fell in love with music at an early age and was gigging in local bars and fronting a soul band by the time he was 14. His professional music career began in earnest in 1976 when MCA Records released his first album, The Chestnut Street Incident. His manager dubbed him Johnny Cougar out of his belief that nobody would buy a record by anybody named Mellencamp. John protested but was overruled and eventually, of course, reclaimed his birth name as his public name.