Fans planning to attend John Mellencamp’s April 12 concert in Birmingham had better keep their comments to themselves during the show.

The classic rocker is known for having a temper, and Mellencamp, 72, proved that he doesn’t suffer fools gladly during a Sunday concert in Ohio. When an audience member interrupted a story the star was telling on stage at the Stranahan Theater in Toledo — the heckler yelled that Mellencamp should stop talking and “play some music” — Mellencamp lashed out. (A video posted on TikTok captures that moment, about eight songs into his set.)

“What do you think I’ve been doing, you co——er?” Mellencamp said. “Here’s the thing, man. You don’t know me. You don’t f—ing know me. Hey, Joe, find this guy and let me see him after the show.”

Mellencamp resumed his story, but another heckler shouted for “Authority Song,” making the situation worse. The crowd erupted with more comments, pro and con, evidently causing Mellencamp’s temperature to rise.

“Guys, I can stop this show right now and just go home,” Mellencamp said. “Tell you what I’m gonna do. Since you’ve been so wonderful, I’m gonna cut about 10 songs out of the show. Here we go.”

Then, after singing a few lines from his hit “Jack & Diane,” Mellencamp had enough. “You know what? Show’s over.” he said, exiting the stage. Fans booed and continued to yell in response.

According to several media reports, Mellencamp returned to the stage a few minutes later and performed more tunes, including signature songs such as “Pink Houses,” “Cherry Bomb,” “Lonely Ol’ Night” and “Crumblin’ Down.” (The full setlist featured 17 songs and a snippet of “Jack & Diane,” according to Setlist.fm.)

At least one eyewitness account suggested that Mellencamp over-reacted to the crowd noise in Toledo.

“It was St. Patrick’s Day and maybe a few people in the crowd had had a few too many green beers, but overall the fans were well-behaved,” David Yonke, a freelance writer in Ohio and former editor for the Toledo Blade, said in a Monday post on Facebook.

“About 5 minutes after Mellencamp stormed offstage, the violinist and accordionist in his band came back out, with the violinist holding her finger to her lips as in ‘shush,’ and played ‘The Real Life’ backed by a spoken word recording of Joanne Woodward,” Yonke continued. “The curtains soon parted on the side of the stage and Mellencamp walked back out, smoking a cigarette, strapped on a Telecaster and launched into ‘Rain on the Scarecrow’ with no further mention of the incident. The concert ended after about an hour and a half in all.”

According to Yonke, who said he attended the show with his wife, Mellencamp appeared to be in a bad mood that evening, and his temper tantrum seemed extreme in response to a few rude fans. “There were 2,400 other Mellencamp fans who deserved better,” Yonke said. “My wife Janet said ‘I think he’s getting cranky in his old age.’”

Mellencamp hasn’t commented on the Toledo ruckus via social media or made a public statement about the incident, as of Wednesday afternoon. Still, it not the first time he’s clashed with noisy audience members. During a May 2023 show in Cleveland, for example, the rocker told the crowd, “I don’t like people screaming from the f—ing audience,” according to Cleveland Scene.

Mellencamp threatened to leave the stage when the audience at Connor Palace continued to chatter, Cleveland Scene said. “I’m not used to this crap,” Mellencamp said. “Look, guys, if I wanted to play in this type of drunken environment, I’d play outside or I’d play in an arena.”

Mellencamp also warned fans in San Francisco to keep their mouths shut in March 2023, before starting an acoustic interlude during his show there.

“If you’re one of these motherf—ers that has to scream and yell and draw attention to yourself, would you go out in the hallway and do it?” Mellencamp said. “I don’t like it. I don’t like when people do that. And some of these people paid money to hear music and they don’t want to hear your f—ing mouth, anyway. You know? Because they have places called bars you can go to, and you can scream and yell all you want in a bar.”

(Watch his “public service announcement” in the video below.)

Some might call Mellencamp an uncompromising performer, while others might say the fiery star is living up to a nickname he’s acknowledged in public, “Little Bastard.”

“I know … everybody thinks that I am hard to get along with, and these guys will tell you that I’m not,” Mellencamp said in a 2014 interview, discussing the nickname and pointing to members of his band. According to Mellencamp, he adopted the profane moniker for the producer credits on his “Scarecrow” album, using the name of the car James Dean was driving when he died.

Mellencamp, an Indiana native, came to fame in the 1980s with heartland rock hits such as “Pink Houses,” “Jack & Diane,” “Small Town,” “Hurts So Good” and more. He has more than 20 studio albums to his credit, including blockbuster releases such as “American Fool” (1982), “Uh-Huh” (1983), “Scarecrow” (1985) and “The Lonesome Jubilee” (1987).

For the record, Mellencamp had no clashes with audience members during his last appearance in Birmingham, in March 2015 at the BJCC Concert Hall. It was a rare appearance here by the Indiana rocker, who’d been absent from local stages since 1986.

“Mellencamp’s 8:30 p.m. set, after opening act Carlene Carter, proved the adage that good things come to those who wait. Backed by an excellent six-member band, he offered more than 20 songs ranging from ‘Lawless Times’ to ‘Cherry Bomb,’ all delivered with gruff emotion and controlled intensity,” AL.com said in its review. “Fans in the crowded house jumped to their feet and sang along with Mellencamp’s most famous tunes, such as ‘Paper in Fire,’ ‘Small Town,’ ‘Jack and Diane,’ ‘Authority Song,’ ‘Check It Out,’ ‘Pink Houses’ and ‘Crumblin’ Down.’”

Mellencamp is set to perform here on April 12 at the BJCC Concert Hall, which is part of Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex at 2100 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. North. Tickets for his 8 p.m. show are $45.50-$499, plus service charges, via Ticketmaster.

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