John Mellencamp all set for greatest hits tour

Not every musician has the pull to announce a concert tour with a trailer that stars Sean Penn.

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JOHN Mellencamp (AP)

(AP)

John Mellencamp does.

The 74-year-old rocker revealed recently that he’ll embark on a 19-date run of U.S. amphitheaters this summer. The theme of “Dancing Words Tour — The Greatest Hits” is as the name suggests, Mellencamp’s most extensive rendering of his best-known songs in decades.

In the short film, Mellencamp and Penn are sitting in a diner, the rocker saying he’s been asked to do a “greatest hits” tour. He seems reluctant.

“God forbid you become generous with your hits and the soundtrack of people's lives,” Penn said. “I can’t imagine you would do that. Maybe actually let yourself enjoy it. Just because they’re hits doesn’t mean they’re not great songs.”

Twenty-two of Mellencamp’s songs made Billboard’s Top 40 between 1979 and 1996. Ten made the Top 10, with the peak being the four-week run of “Jack & Diane” at No. 1 in 1982.

This summer’s show will be like the jukebox in the diner where the two men sit — stocked with nothing but his hits.

He sat down recently with The Associated Press to talk about his plans, where he’s again lightly scolded about his smoking. But it’s over Zoom. It’s not illegal.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: The video with Sean Penn gives the impression that you are kind of dragged into this. How much of that is real and how much of that is acting?