By Peter Cronin
VH1
"Damn, you'd think it was 1988 again." So said a parking
attendant as he watched the graying crowd file into Nashville's
AmSouth Amphiteater. He was witnessing the return of Tom
Petty and the Heartbreakers, and sure enough, while many
pubescent faces dotted the venue's sprawling real estate,
most members of the capacity crowd were fully grown back in
the '70s, the era of Petty and Browne's debut albums. With
no new product to promote, both veteran acts delivered
passionate greatest hits sets, and with little left to prove
aesthetically, each sounded like they were playing for the
fun of it.
Browne and band kicked it off with the riff-driven
"Boulevard," from 1980's Hold Out. The hour-long set
focused on the singer's most recognizable, if not always
his very best, material. Looking California calm-and-cool
in dirty jeans and a gray work shirt, Browne ran through
a sturdy hit list that included "Doctor My Eyes," "Fountain
Of Sorrow" and "The Pretender." Performed by the same
players he has been touring and/or recording with for
the past several years, more recent songs like 1994's
"I'm Alive" and the reflective "Barricades of Heaven,"
naturally fared better onstage than the older songs.
The crowd was on their feet for the set's climax, a
rousing version of "Running On Empty."
Looking alarmingly like Ray Walston playing Popeye's
father in the Robert Altman movie, a bearded Petty
hit the stage with a hearty "how ya doin'," and from
start to finish, he seemed bent on upholding the image
of America's most successful middle-aged slacker. With
a set full of nuggets, a ridiculously tight band, and
a recurring pot-smoking motif, he played the part of a
wise stoner without ever letting it get the best of
him or the music. A relatively scaled down stage set
grouped his musicians close together, and, with the
logo from the cover of their 1976 debut emblazoned
on the bass drum, the band brought a small club intensity
to this cavernous shed.
Guitarist Mike Campbell commanded much of the evening's
attention. Kicking off the night with the bouncing bass
string lick that opens "Runnin' Down A Dream," wailing
high up on the neck during the "Free Bird" finish of
1994's "It's Good To Be King," or gently weeping his
way out of a panoramic "Into The Great Wide Open," Campbell
delighted in the opportunity to flex his muscles, while
pulling out an impressive array of instruments to render
the signature licks that hold these songs together.
With L.A. session veteran Steve Ferrone replacing original
member Stan Lynch on drums, the Heartbreakers sounded
feistier and more relaxed than they have in years.
Keyboardist Benmont Tench casually tossed off the tasteful
synthesizer and Hammond organ fills, but his playing
on "Last Dance With Mary Jane" and "Don't Come Around Here No More"
demonstrated his understanding of the piano as percussion
instrument. Bent over his tools like a mad scientist,
Tench worked with Ferrone all night, the drummer keeping
the relentlessly pounding songs firmly in the pocket,
while Tench steered them out of the doldrums.
A certain sameness can creep into a Petty set. But the
lazy, Stones-esque take on Howlin' Wolf's "Little Red
Rooster" contained some decent blues licks from Petty
himself. And Mike Campbell's rockabilly moment, a
note-for-note reading of Arthur Smith's 1948 classic,
"Guitar Boogie," helped widen the set's dynamics.
With no commercial axe to grind, Petty and company
spent much of their 90 minutes gleefully pulling
out rarely performed songs from every stage of
their long career. The crowd was treated to
"Here Comes My Girl," "Too Much Ain't Enough,"
and "Breakdown." Closing with a sing-along encore of
the now classic "American Girl," Petty's message
was clear. You can sell jillions of records, make
your videos, tour the world, and survive 25 years
of rock stardom, but if you ain't having fun,
what's the point?
Nothing Petty
Tom Petty News - August 2001
