Review: John Mellencamp turns his Minneapolis concert into theater, stand-up comedy and a smokin' good time

He started his career as Johnny Cougar. Nearly 45 years later, he seems to be possibly winding down his career as Johnny Nicotine.

On Thursday night at the State Theatre, John Mellencamp's long-raspy voice had more gravel than a Minneapolis pothole repair crew.

How many cigarettes must a man smoke before they call him croaky?

Mellencamp, 71, who says he's been smoking since age 10, was puffing on a cigarette onstage Thursday as the curtain went up and he took a few more drags as the night wore on. His tobacco-stained singing voice sounded hoarse and harsh, equal parts Bob Dylan and Tom Waits.

Despite its increasingly pronounced raspiness, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer's voice still had plenty of growling character (though not as much oomph) and, more importantly, he performed with an unrelenting passion, whether on hits, deep tracks or brand-new tunes. His two-hour effort — part concert, part theater, part stand-up comedy, part social commentary, part self-help lecture and part confessional — added up to a solid evening of entertainment by a beloved '80s and '90s rock hero.

On his first of three sold-out nights in Minneapolis, Mellencamp, always the proud contrarian, used film clips from seven vintage movies, including "Hud" and "On the Waterfront," to open his show. That's because his tour is sponsored by the Turner Classic Movies channel, the first sponsor he's ever used for a tour. (His 2010 Minneapolis show's "opening act" was a documentary movie of his 2009 tour with Dylan and Willie Nelson.)

With life-size mannequins of four movie actors flanking him onstage Thursday, the eternally self-deprecating Mellencamp came across as his usual rebel without a care. In an extended monologue, he admitted he's been angry all his life, but he's reached a point where "I've got no more [f-bombs] to give," as he put it in the vernacular.

Actually, he still cares about some things. The singer told the story of being in a fancy restaurant with fancy people eating fancy food in Portland, Ore., five years ago and spotting a woman pacing manically outside. He offered to help, and she said she just wanted to go home about 500 miles away but wouldn't be welcomed there. That encounter inspired the unrecorded "The Eyes of Portland," a plain-spoken tune about homelessness that could have come from the Woody Guthrie songbook, delivered solo on acoustic guitar.

The Indiana rocker-turned-Americana warbler offered two selections from last year's overlooked and remarkable "Strictly a One-Eyed Jack" — the dark, haunting dirge "I Always Lie to Strangers," which would have fit on Dylan's "Rough and Rowdy Ways," and the childlike singalong "Chasing Rainbows," about finding them everywhere for anyone who cares.

Mellencamp did something that was admittedly unconventional — playing a recording of actress Joanne Woodward, whom he befriended, reciting the lyrics to his 1987 song "The Real Life," accompanied by live music from accordionist Troy Kinnett and violinist Lisa Germano. It was further evidence that Mellencamp, an exhibited painter, is about striving to create art, not to color inside the lines.

After a 29-year hiatus, Germano has returned to Mellencamp's fierce band, and she was the MVP on Thursday, adding a dreaminess to "Check It Out," a mysteriousness to "Human Wheels," a creaky uplift to "Pink Houses," an edgy freneticism to "Rain on the Scarecrow" and a gypsy jazziness to "I Always Lie to Strangers," all of which ranked as highlights.

Still, it was ultimately about the guy in the plain white T, with suspenders holding up his baggy pants. Mellencamp was scrappy, committed and cavalier, as he often strayed outside the unmoving spotlights because, frankly, he didn't have any more f-bombs to give.