A Review of Pink Houses: a John Mellencamp Tribute Band

My name is Nicole and I am a Mellenhead! There, I've said it and I am proud of it! So, what exactly is a Mellenhead, you ask? Well it's a true blue John Mellencamp fan, of course. You see, I loved this man back when he was Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, John Cougar Mellencamp and now just plain old John Mellencamp. I even loved John Mellencamp in high school when it wasn't cool to love John Mellencamp. And I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Mellencamp just a few years back. So, there you have it. I really am a Mellenhead!

John Mellencamp, who is a tenacious workaholic, usually tours every few years promoting a new album, but on those off years, I suffer from withdrawal, big time. So I usually seek out Mellencamp tribute bands which, by the way, are hard to come by. Most recently, though, I have found one that might even make John himself proud, by the name of Pink Houses.

Pink Houses, a Wisconsin based John Mellencamp tribute band, recently played at a free event in downtown Hinsdale, Illinois just outside of Chicago. And despite a few downpours, some technical difficulties and the fact that the guitarist and violinist were late due to a car wreck, they were spectacular!

Pink Houses is an eleven piece band chock full of guitars, a fiddle, and an accordion and just like Mellencamp's own band, background singers slinging tambourines and maracas. They played everything from Pink Houses, Hurst So Good and Small Town to Jack and Diane, Lonely Ole Night and I Need a Lover, which, by the way, the man himself rarely plays live. And Pink Houses performed a fluid segue of John Mellencamp songs into other great rock ballads of the 70s and 80s pleasing even the non John fans in the audience.

Let me tell you, this band did their homework and even used some of the same explosive musical arrangements that Mellencamp's band performs live. The band was teeming with personality and the lead singer Tom, who by day is a dentist, even gave away a free electric guitar to an enthusiastic member of the audience. This is a gig tradition for Pink Houses who gives the prize to the kid performing the best "air guitar" and each and every show!

Hinsdale, Illinois should feel fortunate to have experienced a free Pink Houses show especially since the band usually plays mainly in and around the Madison, Wisconsin area. For more information about Pink Houses, tour dates and band bios, log onto www.pinkhouses.net.