John Mellencamp Announces Greatest Hits Tour with Some Help from Pal Sean Penn and a 'Jack & Diane' Sing-Along (Exclusive)
- - John Mellencamp Announces Greatest Hits Tour with Some Help from Pal Sean Penn and a 'Jack & Diane' Sing-Along (Exclusive)
Rachel DeSantisJanuary 14, 2026 at 8:00 AM
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John Mellencamp is heading out on a greatest hits tour this summer
The rocker announced the news in a video co-starring Sean Penn
The tour will run for 19 shows starting July 10, 2026
At a concert at Madison Square Garden nearly 20 years ago, Pete Seeger gave John Mellencamp some advice. The folk legend told the rocker that if he wanted his career to have longevity, he should “keep it small, but keep it going.”
For the last 17 years, Mellencamp has heeded that advice, eschewing large, outdoor venues for smaller, more intimate theaters. Now, though he’s ready to do some good, old-fashioned R.O.C.K.ing in the U.S. of A.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, 74, will hit the road this summer for his new Dancing Words Tour — The Greatest Hits, which he announced in a feel-good new short film featuring Sean Penn that PEOPLE is exclusively premiering.
“They’ve been asking me to do this for years. ‘Come play outside again.’ And I’m saying, ‘No, no, no.’ But this time, I’m 74 years old. I thought I might be getting to the age where I might want to try to share these songs with people again,” Mellencamp tells PEOPLE. “In the video that Sean and I made, Sean says, ‘There’s no reason to keep these songs to yourself. What’s the problem with trying to make people happy?’”
John Mellencamp/YouTube
John Mellencamp
The video features Mellencamp rolling up to a roadside diner via motorcycle for a meeting with Penn, a real-life friend of the star’s since the early 1980s. Penn, 65, tries to convince Mellencamp that a greatest hits tour is something he should consider — and when the entire diner (including the star’s sons Hud, 31, and Speck, 30, in quick cameos) starts singing “Jack & Diane” together, he’s finally convinced.
“I don’t mean to sound corny, but I could never, in my wildest dreams, have imagined, when I made my first record at 22, that at 74, I would still be here,” he says. “[But] I don’t think it’s a good idea to sit on the couch. If you want to die, sit on the couch.”
Fans can expect shows in major markets like New York and Los Angeles over 19 dates starting July 10, 2026. There’ll be the biggest hits, like “Hurts So Good,” “Pink Houses” and “Small Town,” and other popular tunes that Mellencamp hasn’t played live in decades, like “I Need a Lover,” “Wild Nights” and “Ain’t Even Done with the Night.”
Marc Hause
John Mellencamp
“I listened to [‘Ain’t Even Done with the Night’] the other day for the first time, and I thought, ‘This isn’t bad. We can modernize this and get away from ‘80s, ‘70s pop music sound and still do the song,’” he says. “I’m going to do ‘Jack & Diane,’ but I’m going to do it as what they call a smash-up, which will be a soul song. People are going to go, ‘What the f---?’”
Part of the reason Mellencamp quit doing huge shows was because he’d started to feel “like a cheerleader” and a “human jukebox” for concertgoers who were only there to “get drunk and party.” The never-ending tour dates also got to him, which is why he’s opting now for a more manageable 19 dates.
“We’re only doing 20 shows. And the reason we’re doing 20 shows is because whenever anybody asks me, ‘John, do you like being on tour?’ I’d always go, ‘I like the first 20 shows. Then after that, it turns into work,’” he says. “So okay, let’s do 20 shows.”
The Grammy winner says his son Hud will certainly join him on tour, and so will Kristin Kehrberg, his girlfriend of three years (“I’ve been very lucky with that,” he says of his relationship with Kehrberg. “We get along great”). He’s also dad to daughters Michelle, 55, Teddi, 44, and Justice, 40, and says he’s “very happy” with his relationships with his kids.
Gary Miller/Getty
John Mellencamp performing at Farm Aid in Minneapolis in September 2025
As he prepares for the new tour, Mellencamp — who released his last album, Orpheus Descending, in 2023 — says he’s keeping his eyes on the prize — and is, of course, well aware that he’s in good company.
“If Willie Nelson can do it, I can do it. If Bob Dylan can do it, I can do it. If Bruce [Springsteen] can do it, I can do it,” he says. “So as long as those guys are still slugging, I’m still slugging.”
Tickets will go on sale Friday, Jan. 23 at 10 a.m. local time at Mellencamp.com. There will be a Citi presale starting Monday, Jan. 19 at 10 a.m. local time through Thursday, Jan. 22. There will also be a number of different VIP packages available.
See below for a full list of tour dates for Dancing Words Tour — The Greatest Hits.
July 10 — Grand Rapids, Mich. — Acrisure Amphitheater
July 11 — Tinley Park, Ill. — Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
July 13 — Kansas City, Mo. — Morton Amphitheater
July 14 — Shakopee, Minn. — Mystic Lake Amphitheater
July 16 — Clarkston, Mich. — Pine Knob Music Theatre
July 18 — Noblesville, Ind. — Ruoff Music Center
July 19 — Cincinnati, Ohio — Riverbend Music Center
July 21 — Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio — Blossom Music Center
July 24 — Mansfield, Mass. — Xfinity Center
July 25 — Holmdel, N.J. — PNC Bank Arts Center
July 26 — Wantagh, N.Y. — Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
July 29 — Bristow, Va. — Jiffy Lube Live
July 30 — Charlotte, N.C. — Truliant Amphitheater
Aug. 1 — Alpharetta, Ga. — Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
Aug. 3 — Tampa, Fla. — MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Aug. 6 — Houston, Texas — The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Aug. 9 — Phoenix, Ariz. — Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
Aug. 10 — Hollywood, Calif. — Hollywood Bowl
Aug. 12 — Mountain View, Calif. — Shoreline Amphitheatre
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
