Mellencamp rocks Woodlawn field with free concert

Red, sweaty babies cried. Students passed out. Body heat bounced around, hitting every member of the crowd, who were packed like sardines. The midday sun was relentless, but then again, so were the fans of John Mellencamp. \nAt 1:25 p.m. Thursday, when a blue Chevy Suburban delivered Mellencamp to Woodlawn field, thousands of ecstatic fans focused on the heat coming from the hometown rock star and forgot about the heat of the afternoon. \nThe singer opened the free concert, part of his Goodwill tour, with what has become the Bloomington-pride anthem, "Small Town." Directly after that, he sang "Where I Come From." If he was trying to get on the crowd's good side straight away, it worked. He kept it rocking to a fairly mellow beat for the rest of the 11-song set. \nFor the duration of the hour, Mellencamp and his band played everything from personal classics like "I Saw You First" and standard rock classics like Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" to obscure '60's folk from Jerry Hahn. \nDuring a fun rendition of "If You'll Just Give Me Something to Love," the guitarist and accordianist both took the mike. The guitarist added another Hoosier-specific reference by filling in "I'll buy you a ... " with basketball tickets. The energy level was brought up a notch when a fiddler took the stage. It was obvious that Mellencamp wanted to showcase his band as much as his own talents. \n With his famous cocky charm intact, Mellencamp seemed much too large for the 10-foot wide stage. But, the setting was comfortable. As one listener, junior Andy Proctor, summed it up, "The show was relaxed. It was like a little Woodlawn-stock." \n The set ended with the classic crowd-pleaser, "Pink Houses." Mellencamp thanked the crowd, but he was barely audible over the roar. Given that the concert was free and it gave students a very good excuse to skip class, attendants couldn't help but feel that Mellencamp had once again given them "something to love"