On the Waterfront: Reflections on touring with Mellencamp for 40 years
Mellencamp opened the DECC show playing "John Cockers" from his 2008 album "Life, Death, Love and Freedom" — on April 4, 2024. Photo by Seth Roeser.
John Mellencamp performed at the DECC on April 4 for his “Live and In Person 2024 Tour'' after a week-long hiatus following a show in Rockford, Illinois. While most fans excitedly packed into Symphony Hall to see Cougar play live, one man was less enthusiastic about hearing Mellencamp’s songs. He’d been listening to them for years and knew he would have the opportunity to hear them again the very next day in Iowa. The man has been on tour with Mellencamp for decades, though he isn’t a member of the band.
Trevor Goff estimates he has gone on tour with John Mellencamp for about 44 years. A long-time friend, Goff travels concert to concert, state to state, to reconnect with friends across the U.S., and because it’s just plain fun.
“We’re an odd couple!” Goff said. “It’s sense of humor, I guess, but we’re different in a lot of ways. It’s kind of wild we’ve been friends for so long.”
Trevor Goff (back center) celebrating Christmas with the Mellencamps in 2019. Photo via @teddimellencamp on Instagram.
Goff works as an interior designer and met Mellencamp through another client of his in the 80s.
“I was working for Rod Stewart’s manager and then he signed John,” Goff said. “By the time he was making money, he had seen a house I had done for his manager in New York and then one in Beverly Hills. Then he hired me.”
Goff is labeled as the tour’s Goodwill Ambassador on paperwork and programs, though he isn’t sure where the title came from. He often works as an in-between for Mellencamp and his fans, occasionally taking items to Mellencamp to sign or talking about Mellencamp to concert-goers before shows.
“He keeps everyone in a good mood and keeps everything running,” said Alaina Rastelli, who assists Mellencamp on tour. “Trevor is just as an important a part of this whole machine that John has created as a band member.”
“I like people!” Goff said. “It makes me feel good that they’re so happy and excited and stuff. So it’s nice.”
Goff has become a recognizable fixture of every tour for the ultra-dedicated fans who attend every Mellencamp concert.
“I’m just so surprised, you know?” Goff said. “A woman tonight said ‘I have pictures with you from 2014.’ I don’t know how it happened but lately, every night, people will call my name.”
Trevor Goff (left) and Alaina Rastelli (right) in front of prints done by John and Hud Mellencamp — on April 4, 2024. Photo by Seth Roeser.
Goff played piano and cello in junior high but said Mellencamp hasn’t tried teaching him an instrument yet, despite being on the road together for more than 40 years.
“Not even the triangle, he doesn’t trust me!” Goff said.
But in those four decades of friendship, Goff has witnessed Mellencamp’s creative process in motion.
“Last week, just before I went home, I was in the kitchen of his house and he sat down and started writing a song,” Goff said. “He just woke up with it, it’s a gift.”
“And if he’s not making music or writing songs, he’s painting.”
The touring lifestyle gives Goff opportunities to visit friends and family across the United States.
“[Mellencamp] calls and says ‘We’re going on tour,’” Goff said. “At my age, friends have moved for jobs, for relationships, to take care of their parents. So I look where he’s going to go and ‘Oh, I have friends here, I’ve got friends there.’ So it’s a good way for me to connect with people that were a part of my life.”
“I tell them that’s why I go but, you know, I have fun. It’s a fun group, we have a lot of laughs,” Goff said.
Between travel, concerts and sleep, Mellencamp’s tour group doesn’t get the chance to take in the sights of every city they go to. The “Live and In Person Tour” started in March and there have already been over 20 shows.
But as Goff looked through the plane’s window, he saw a landmark that’s pretty hard to miss.
“As we were coming in to land, I noticed the lake was half frozen over. That was something I’ve never seen,” Goff said.
Duluth’s influence on Goff seemed to have affected Mellencamp as well. Mellencamp changed his pre-show routine for the first time in years. In his silver Airstream trailer, where he prepares for every show, Mellencamp played the 1954 film “On the Waterfront” as an homage to Lake Superior.
Mellencamp is a fan of black and white movies. The concert opened with a 20 minute clip-show of movie scenes from the 40s, 50s and 60s. Photo by Seth Roeser.
“He gets ready in his Airstream and there’s a TV screen in there,” Goff said. “It’s a ritual, it’s just consistency, that for years and years there’s always the movie “A Streetcar Named Desire.” But tonight he changed it for the first time to another Marlon Brando movie.”
Goff was the one who gave Mellencamp the idea, of course.
“When we pulled up to his Airstream I said “John, we’re on the waterfront,”’ Goff said. “Then he went into the Airstream and changed the movie.”
Mellencamp will play the last show of his “Live and In Person 2024 Tour” on April 23 in Savannah, Georgia. He will join Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson’s “Outlaw Music Festival” tour on July 29 until September 20.