Tom Petty performance at TECO
had a lot of heart
By NANCY STETSON,

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers rocked TECO Arena in Estero on Friday night with a high-voltage set that provided hit after hit after hit.

Noting that it'd been a while since they'd played Florida, Petty announced: "Tonight we're going to try to make our way through our catalog and play all the old things as well."

And they did, even throwing in a tune from Petty's stint as a Traveling Wilbury.

They played "The Last DJ," the title cut from the most recent CD, but the bulk of the evening was devoted to the songs that made Petty and his band headliners for almost three decades.

They opened with "American Girl," and the crowd was on its feet. Then, when they followed it up with "You Don't Know How It Feels," the crowd joined him in a call-and-response. And on songs such as "Free Fallin' " and "Learning To Fly," they spontaneously sang along with him on the lyrics and chorus.

Petty, obviously pleased with the crowd's enthusiastic responses, commented at one point, "Yeah, we got a loud and crazy bunch tonight."

And in fact, the crowd was far rowdier than the band, who, for the most part, played the songs with a low-key, relaxed approach. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' performance was refreshingly absent of the typical displays of grandstanding and showboating many lesser bands are prone to, concentrating instead on the music.

There was no rock-star posing on the stage, just good old straight-ahead rock 'n' roll, played by a group of very talented musicians.

Petty was backed by Ben Tench on piano, Mike Campbell on lead guitar, Scott Thurston on guitar, keyboards and harmonica, Steve Ferrone on drums and Ron Blair on bass. Song after song, Campbell would step forward to provide some blistering guitar licks, as if reiterating what Petty had just sung. And Thurston's harmonica only highlighted all the more Petty's Dylan-esque vocals.

In introducing "The Last DJ" — which rails against the radio industry — Petty said: "This song was banned from radio the day it was released, which as a songwriter makes me feel very proud. I'm proud I have to thank you, the audience, for taking it to No. 1 on the Billboard rock charts."

Later in the night, Petty and the Heartbreakers presented reworkings of some of their classics, including a lyrical and tender version of "Don't Come Around Here No More" and a moving rendition of "Learning to Fly," which concluded with the crowd singing the chorus while Petty sang counterpoint, singing about flying over his worries and his troubles.

Sandwiched in-between was a new song, "Melinda," which hasn't been released yet. It included an extended piano/drum jam, which started out with a honky-tonk piano that slid into jazz.

This trio of songs was a highlight of the evening.

Unfortunately, those working the sound board cranked up the sound too loud for the small arena, causing the sound to bounce and echo and the people sitting behind me to complain about their inability to hear the lyrics.

Soul/gospel singer Mavis Staples opened for Petty with a 45-minute set that included "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" and "The Weight" as well as well-known classics from the Staples Singers such as "Respect Yourself" and "I'll Take You There."

Like soul/R&B singers Al Green and Sam Cooke, Mavis Staples has the ability to sing passionately about both human love and God's love.

Though the crowd was still filing in when she took the stage, Staples soon commanded their respect, belting out her songs and strutting across the stage. Staples scatted and improvised, her voice swooping and soaring, her church background highly evident. And every so often she'd just let loose with a gritty Janis Joplin-like wail, as if words failed her and she just had to let this sound out of her body.

By the end of her set, even those prone to talking during opening acts were cheering and dancing.

Tom Petty’s music resonates with TECO crowd

By MARY WOZNIAK, mwozniak@news-press.com
Published by news-press.com on August 23, 2003

The California Cracker came home to his roots Friday night to a roaring welcome at TECO Arena in Estero.

Rocker Tom Petty, a Gainesville native playing the Southwest Florida venue for the first time, captured the crowd with his voice of rebellion untainted and unmellowed by nearly 30 years in the music business.

He may be 51, but the boyish image, though in a grown-up suit and claret-colored shirt, is still there.

If you squeeze your eyes shut you hear the still-fresh sound of a rocker railing at the world’s injustice. That’s the voice of rebellion. No frills. No vibrato. He’s just in your face.

The people in the audience: a mix of teenagers in pigtails, baby boomers and beyond.

There was Mark Robinson, 46, of Naples, who loves Petty’s music and lyrics, particularly, “If I Were King,” a song the rocker didn’t play this time around.

Robinson likes it because of the possibilities. It’s never giving up hope. Someday he may be king. “It’s a fantasy of most people. Power. Prestige,” Robinson said.

Petty is the urban troubadour who appeals to Everyman and his dreams. He may have moved to Los Angeles in 1974, but the soul of a Florida “Cracker” still remains with him, perhaps in his Southern roots and a country-western background, as seen in other songs like “Great Wide Open,” or the themes of love lost and a life of hard knocks.

Petty took the stage playing “American Girl” first, bringing the crowd to its feet., followed swiftly by the Dylanesque, “You Don’t Know How it Feels” (to be me).

With a blinding smile, he worked the crowd.

There are times he’s a dead ringer for Dylan, as in “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” which the crowd sang with him.

But mostly he sounds like himself, the singer who seems to be straining to reach a key he shouldn’t be, but wants to. If the voice isn’t exactly musical, well, good. The message is in the song’s delivery and the lyrics.

Petty isn’t a deep philosopher. His messages are plain, simple and always in your face. They’re about the angst of the working man, love, breakups, heartache, the need for respect. They fit in as well in Buffalo, N.Y., as they do in Fort Myers.

He just won’t back down, by the way, the name of another anthem that brought the house down.

“I know what’s right

I got just one life

In a world that keeps pushing me around

I won’t back down”

Petty project heartwarming rather than heartbreaking

BY STEVE HEISLER CORRESPONDENT

Tom Petty's musical lamentations on how the world is and how he wishes it to be mark his most recent musings behind the mike.

So while dyed-in-the- wool fans of the sunglass-wearing, blond-haired showman will call for the familiar chords of "Mary Jane's Last Dance," they should prepare for anger-filled rants against music industry realities. All are delivered in the form of not-always-refreshing ballads that have become Petty's trademark.

There's enough new material here, however, off 2002's "The Last DJ" to keep concertgoers from worrying that this Florida native has lost his songwriting edge 25 years into a sterling career.

His thoughtful ruminations and occasional rants include the title cut, a relatively predictable lyrical painting of that final on-air personality who clings to his freedom of choice.

That's the thing about Petty; his material resonates lyrically even as it begins to sound too eerily similar. His sarcasm-laden lament on an industry driven solely by cash, "Money Becomes King," utilizes chord progressions that do more than hint at what distinguished "It's Good To Be King."

The quietly reminiscent "Dreamville" shows an introspective side. It is just a break from the guitar-and-keyboard-driven tale of the tradeoffs involved in developing a rock star's image in "Joe."

All of the usual suspects contribute to Petty's new project, with Benmont Tench displaying the keyboard mastery that has defined his career. It was the return of a former Heartbreaker, however, bass player Ron Blair, that helps set the tone for two of the band's finest new songs.

In the prayer-like yet powerful "Lost Children," Petty's pleas for finding the youthful dispossessed are enhanced by Blair. He demonstrates his talent again in the Beatle-esque hopeful anthem "Can't Stop the Sun."

Those cuts illustrate the side of Petty he is most comfortable presenting now: an artist who is concerned about a lot but whose ultimate insights involve a few positive solutions.

For Petty, it may indeed be "good to be king" -- but it's even better to be a man more at ease with himself and the world around him.

Free fallin' with Petty

Rock legend ready to light up Southwest Florida tonight

By MARK KRZOS, mkrzos@news-press.com
Published by news-press.com on August 22, 2003

The consistency of hits that have poured out of Tom Petty for four decades are unrivaled in rock music.

On nearly every album he’s released since the mid-1970s, Petty has had at least one song crack the Top 20.

Perhaps even more stunning is that, while popular musical tastes have changed from rock to disco to punk to heavy metal to hip-hop, Petty’s sound has remained relatively unchanged.

“He’s a true classic rocker in the same vein as a Bruce Springsteen or Bob Seger,” said Mud, program director for The Arrow 94.5-FM.

Petty, 50, will perform with the Heartbreakers and opening act and leader of the Staples Singers, Mavis Staples, at TECO Arena at 8 p.m. tonight.

George Lawson, an Estero resident and rooms manager for the Quality Inn Golf Resort in Golden Gate, can’t wait.

“I’ve been a fan of his since I was 12 years old,” he said. “I just want to see him play some old stuff. I don’t care what it is. It’s all great.”

If you could combine all the best things about American rock ’n’ roll and throw it into a pot, the artist stepping out of the stew would be Petty, Mud said.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers formed in 1975, but their roots are planted among ’60s-era folk rockers Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn.

In the 1970s, Petty became the South’s answer to the Northeast’s Springsteen, the Midwest’s Seger and the West Coast’s Eagles and Fleetwood Mac.

Born in Gainesville, Petty became interested in rock music after meeting Elvis in 1961. Years later, he quit high school at 17 to join Mudcrutch — one of the state’s top bands at the time — and follow his dream.

Mudcrutch broke up after moving to Los Angeles in search of a record contract.

Petty didn’t give up and was soon offered a solo recording contract by Shelter Records.

Nothing came of it until 1975.

Petty got together with future Heartbreakers Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Ron Blair and Stan Lynch after hearing a demo they had released. The five joined up, and Petty used his Shelter Records contract and released his eponymous debut album.

Initially, the album sold poorly, but it gained steam after a tour.

It wasn’t the South — or even the United States where Petty first found success. As an opening act for Nils Lofgren in England, Petty and the Heartbreakers floored the Brits, and the album soared up the British charts.

The song “Breakdown” was then re-released in the U.S. and broke into the Top 40 almost a year after its initial release.

Throughout the next several years, Petty became one of rock’s elite performers. In 1979, Petty and the Heartbreakers released “Damn the Torpedoes,” which is one of the most critically acclaimed records of all time.

The album, bolstered by hits such as “Refugee” and “Don’t Do Me Like That,” sold nearly three million copies and made it to No. 2 on the charts.

Petty’s hits didn’t stop coming, unlike those by his rock heroes, Dylan and McGuinn.

“When he releases an album, you know it’s going to have at least one hit,” said local fan Kevin Staszak.

Staszak, general manager for the Cleveland Avenue Boston Market, has tickets to tonight’s concert and considers Petty to be the quintessential American rocker. “He’s a very talented musician,” he said. “I’ve been a big fan for quite a few years.”

Throughout the early-to-mid 80s, Petty continued to flourish with hits such as “The Waiting,” “You Got Lucky,” and a duet with Stevie Nicks called “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” which rose to No. 3.

Later in the decade, “Don’t Come Around Here No More” reached No. 13, and “Free Fallin’” went to No. 7.

“Free Fallin’” was recently ranked No. 39 by VH-1 in its list of the “100 Greatest Songs of All-Time.”

In 2002, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Petty's unadorned rock bridges generations in intimate setting

By Donnie Snow

Greeting a crowd sitting much closer to the stage than he's used to, Tom Petty's warm wave and trademark "What, me worry?" smirk enlivened a multigenerational audience that rarely sat Monday during the first of a two-night stand at the Orpheum.

Petty, performing with his equally wizened band the Heartbreakers, opened with the contemporary college jukebox classic An American Girl.

His and the Heartbreakers' expanding fan base is similar to what Neil Young sees at concerts, only more upwardly mobile, but maybe that's just a product of $75 ticket prices.

A real Memphis fan, Petty retold a story about how he got into music after an Elvis encounter in his hometown at age 11 (when Presley was filming Follow That Dream).

"I got to thank him for turning me onto music and changing my life," Petty said of the meeting. He then kicked into a Presley version of Ray Charles's I Got A Woman.

Although the tour supports last year's "The Last DJ," Petty played most of the songs you'd demand to hear at these ticket prices, plus some of his newer recordings. He also performed some interesting covers. The Howlin' Wolf classic Little Red Rooster was nearly as moving as Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away.

He debuted a new tune titled Melinda, a sad, almost lamenting song featuring some of the most sensational rock and roll piano of any song you'll hear on the radio.

Even more sensational is that Petty and the guys pulled off a total rock and roll show with nary a lean to any contemporary styles, trappings most rock bands of all sizes have a hard time dodging without getting classified as stagnant.

From About to Give Out, to Runnin' Down a Dream and all the way back to Refugee, the most remarkable sight of the hit parade performance was watching how amazed so many were when they realized that the someone next to them, so much older/younger than they, actually knew the words, too - and wasn't embarrassed to sing in public.

Diddley serves up funky antics while Petty plays it safe with solid show

By CRAIG HAVIGHURST

To paraphrase George Jones, Bo Diddley don't need no rocking chair, and he doesn't need any Viagra either, if you can take his word for it.

OK, he did use a chair for much of his opening set at AmSouth Amphitheatre on Saturday night, but he said he has got something acting up and that boxy guitar he plays looks to weigh as much as a television set anyway. Moreover, before he was done with his 40 minutes of unbridled entertainment, he had gotten up (sans guitar), played one of his drummer's floor tom-toms like an African rite of passage and boogied enough to show he still had ample mojo at close to or over 75 years of age.

Diddley wasn't last night's ostensible main event. It was a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers show after all. And that went extremely well, with a precisely played and vibrantly sung tour through his 25-year-old catalog. But on a night of filet-and-spuds rock 'n' roll, when Petty and company had umpteen-thousand heads bobbing, Diddley provided the funkiest surprises and the widest smiles.

Part of the intrigue in the set stemmed from the fact that this week's blackout, Diddley said, had stranded part of his band. So he borrowed the Heartbreakers rhythm section, forcing more on-stage listening and reacting than would have to go on in the rehearsed second set.

They started things off with the beat the artist virtually trademarked, bolstering the signature song that bears his name. He moved from Bo Diddley to Hey Bo Diddley to Roadrunner, while coaxing warbling electric organlike tone out of his guitar with a bare thumb and fingers. Following his climactic drum solo, Diddley strutted and embarked on a saucy sex god rap in the pre hip-hop manner of Grandmaster Flash. ''Can we do it pretty baby, can we do it?'' he chanted, whipping up the crowd. Then he pushed his heavy horn rimmed glasses up his nose. It was priceless.

Petty looked to be in fighting trim when he whisked onstage at half past nine — clean shaven, clear-eyed and dapper in a black and red chalk stripe suit. The music, beginning with An American Girl and You Don't Know How it Feels, came off the same way: neat as a pin, stylish and put-together. It marked an interesting contrast to Petty's last Starwood appearance, which was reportedly rambling and strung out. As the night evolved, one wished for perhaps a little more of that unhinged feeling, but for those hoping to hear hearty hits well played, there was nothing lacking.

The highlights, as a result, were generally tantamount to the highlights of Petty's recording career — the jangly sway of Free Falling, the patient pulse of Learning to Fly and the organ-saturated artillery of Refugee. The only song from his most recent cultural manifesto of an album The Last DJ was the title track, which blasts homogenization of the airwaves. He offered up a new song of tortured obsession called Melinda, which evolved from dense folk ballad to complex piano solo, showing off the skills of the wonderful Benmont Tench. A sprinkling of blues (Little Red Rooster and a touch of Elmore James) rounded out a consistent hour-and-forty-minute set.

On the way out, some might have been ticking off the hits he didn't play — Breakdown, Listen to her Heart, Don't Do Me Like That and more — and thinking how it could have gone on for a while longer without strain. It was a pretty night that seemed ended prematurely by a noise curfew.

Fans welcome Petty like he's family

BY DEVIN GRANT
Special to The Post and Courier

When Chuck Gravley walked into the North Charleston Coliseum on Friday evening to see a concert by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, he was attending the show as more than just a fan -- Gravley was family.

In addition to being an avid listener of Petty's music, Gravley, an airport security screener who lives in Ladson, is actually related to one of the band members, keyboardist Benmont Tench.

"He's my uncle's wife's sister's son," explained Gravley, who was attending the show with his son, Ken, and his grandson, Tyler. In loose terms, that makes Tench a cousin of Gravley, who hasn't actually spoken with the musician since the late '60s, when the Gravley family traveled to Gainesville, Fla., to visit their Tench brethren.

Even back then though, Gravley remembers that Tench was a natural, saying "He was an impressive talent, even in his teens."

Gravley's first clue that Tench had achieved fame and fortune came almost a decade later, when the Ladson man was in the Navy. According to Gravley, his brother called him one day to report that their piano-playing cousin was in a band Gravley might have heard of.

"He said, 'We have a famous family member,' " recalls Gravley. Family ties notwithstanding, Gravley makes it a point to try and see the band whenever it performs close to the Lowcountry. Its last visit to Charleston was a show at the North Charleston Coliseum in September 1995.

Up in the Radio Room, a pre-concert cocktail lounge set up by ClearChannel Communications, which sponsored Friday night's concert, local classic rock radio station Q104.5 was holding a Tom Petty look-alike contest. Radio personality Michael Blaze used the crowd to pick the eventual winner: 14-year-old Becky Johnson, a freshman student at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant.

Johnson, who claims to have been listening to Petty's music "since before I could remember," had clearly put a lot of thought into her costume, which was straight out of Petty's psychedelic music video for the song "Don't Come Around Here No More." Clad in a colorful floppy hat, a black waistcoat and checkerboard pattered sneakers, Johnson was clearly the crowd favorite. The second-row tickets that Johnson won as first prize went to her mother, who was celebrating a birthday.

Friday night's show at the Coliseum began with a performance by gospel and R&B legend Mavis Staples. Some might have considered Staples, whose vocal style calls to mind the late Mahalia Jackson, an odd choice for an opening act for a classic rock band. The singer, who recorded on the Stax record label in the '60s, didn't take long to make an impression on the crowd with her spirited renditions of R&B and gospel songs. By the time Staples left the stage almost an hour later, the singer had clearly won over the audience.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers took to the stage shortly after Staples' departure, opening with one of the band's classic tunes, "American Girl." The popular classic rock band, which was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, immediately had the crowd on their feet.

With the exception of the title track from the band's latest album, "The Last DJ," and a couple of cover songs, the evening became a celebration of the long list of hits the band has scored over the last 30 years. Crowd favorites included "Mary Jane's Last Dance," "You Don't Know How It Feels" and "Free Fallin."

Besides Petty, the band lineup included lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Tench, multi-instrumentalist Scott Thurston, drummer Steve Ferone, and bassist Ron Blair. Blair, who was the original bassist for the Heartbreakers before leaving the band in the '80s, recently returned to the fold after the departure of longtime bassist Howie Epstein, who died earlier this year.

A surprise came when Petty performed "Handle With Care," a song from the 1988 debut album by the Traveling Wilburys. That group consisted of Petty, Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan, as well as the late musicians Roy Orbison and George Harrison.

Petty also unveiled a new song, "Melinda," which he played on acoustic guitar. That song, which called to mind the sound of Johnny Cash, received a warm response from the audience.

Legend makes his way to North Charleston Friday night

BY DEVIN GRANT
Special to The Post and Courier

Not too many people at the age of 12 knew what they were going to be doing for a living. For Tom Petty though, that is exactly the age it happened. When Elvis Presley came to Gainesville, Fla., in 1961 to work in the film "Follow That Dream," Petty, then eleven years old and a native of Gainesville, got a chance to meet the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Less than a year later, Petty had his plan in place. It was pretty simple, really. He would put together a rock band, record some music, and become rich and famous.

Petty, who performs with his band, the Heartbreakers, is in town tomorrow night. He did indeed achieve his goal, but it was anything but simple. Success with the Heartbreakers didn't come until after the demise of at least three other bands (The Sundowners, The Epics, and Mudcrutch) and a last-ditch move from Florida to Los Angeles in the early '70s. Mudcrutch was actually signed to a small label in L.A. and even released a single, "Depot Street." Nevertheless, that band soon folded. Petty then pulled some friends from his failed bands together and formed the Heartbreakers, and the rest is rock 'n' roll history.

To say that Tom Petty has done well as an artist would be putting it mildly. Since releasing a self-titled debut album in 1976, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have clamped onto the consciousness of the music buying public, despite the fact that not a single Petty song has ever been used in any sort of advertisement. In today's world, where Jewel's latest single was featured on a razor commercial the week her new album came out, that's saying a lot. Rather than sell out for the benefit of quick cash, Petty has always preferred to let his music do the talking. Singles such as "American Girl," "Breakdown," "Don't Do Me Like That," "Refugee," and "Here Comes My Girl" made Petty a millionaire before the end of the '70s. In the '80s, Petty and his band embraced the new medium of the music video, turning out hugely popular visual interpretations of songs such as "You Got Lucky" (with its futuristic "Road Warrior" feel) and "Don't Come Around Here No More" (Alice in Wonderland on acid).

The '90s found Petty's sound maturing thanks to a stint playing with the Traveling Wilburys, a super-group that featured Petty, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, and the late George Harrison and Roy Orbison. More radio hits with the Heartbreakers followed, including "Free Fallin'," "Runnin' Down a Dream," "Into the Great Wide Open," and "Mary Jane's Last Dance." Last year, Petty and his band received the ultimate honor when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not bad for a star struck kid from Gainesville.

Petty arrives in Charleston touring in support of his latest release with the Heartbreakers, "The Last DJ." Released last year, the CD is Petty's first concept album, and the artist wasted no time letting his listeners know where he stands on the subject of the music business these days.

The album's title track takes a shot at the huge radio conglomerates, such as Clear Channel and Infinity, that own hundreds (and in some cases, thousands) of radio stations.

It's clear that Petty misses the days of free form radio when he sings, "there goes your freedom of choice/there goes the last human voice." (Ironically, tomorrow night's show is presented by Clear Channel).

In the song "Money Becomes King," Petty tells the story from the point of view of a music fan who watches as his favorite performer becomes a pawn of the music company, eventually pricing himself out of his fan's range ("and way up in the nosebleeds/we watched him on the screen/they'd hung between the billboards/so cheaper seats could see"). "Joe," a plodding number, is sung from the point of view of a fat cat record company CEO who leaves no question as to who is really important in the artist/label relationship ("I'm the hand on the green light switch/you get to be famous, I get to be rich"). But although much of "The Last DJ" is filled with angry diatribes, Petty also shows that he hasn't forgotten why he's still in this game despite having made enough dough to go retire on his own island somewhere. "Dreamville" is a perfect example. It's a beautiful song that begins with its narrator walking down to the music store to buy a new set of guitar strings.

Petty fans attending Friday's concert can expect to hear more than a few songs from "The Last DJ" but also a good selection of Petty classics.

Tom Petty appears tonight at Arena - By my friend and AJC Staff Writer, Tony Wilbert

When Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers take to the stage for tonight's concert at the Arena at Gwinnett Center, it will mark the 35th time I've seen the band live.

I've traveled coast to coast to see Petty and the Heartbreakers, rivaled only by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and Aerosmith for longevity among American rock 'n' roll bands.

While Springsteen often is hailed as a working-class hero, Petty appeals to rock's Everyman.

Petty, 52, postures, dances and urges the audience to sing along throughout his concerts. And his backers, the Heartbreakers, are one of the tightest rock groups around.

I first saw Petty in the summer of 1980 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md. I was a 15-year-old high school freshman.

Petty made a lifetime fan out of me that night.

He has put on many memorable shows over the 23 years I've seen him. But the June 2, 2001, show at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas ranks first among the Petty concerts I've seen. Petty played loud and hard that night, and then he got married the next morning.

I've never met my guitar hero, but I've talked with him on the phone.

During summer 1991, I got through to a call-in radio show where Petty was taking calls from fans. When my turn came, I stumbled a little and asked Petty how he would like to be remembered. He was quick with a succinct answer that went something like this: "Like Roy Orbison once said, 'I just hope I'm remembered,' " Petty said.

I taped my one-question interview, and I listen to it every now and then. My wife can't believe I still have the tape around. She'll be with me tonight when Petty plays his first show in Gwinnett County. I'll make a Petty fan out of her yet.

As for the near future, it's off to Nashville for the show Saturday night, No. 36 and counting.

• Tony Wilbert is a staff writer for the Business section of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Dylan Glows But Petty Shines - BY BEN HOROWITZ
Star-Ledger Staff

When Bob Dylan toured with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as his backing band in 1986 and 1987, it was pretty much a match made in heaven. The Heartbreakers succeeded gloriously in fleshing out the ominous, angry style of such landmark '60s Dylan albums as "Blonde on Blonde" and "Highway 61 Revisited."

But performing separately on Saturday at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, the differences between the two Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famers in 2003 became abundantly and sometimes painfully clear.

Dylan, who played first (the order was to be reversed for a second show last night), was his predictably unpredictable self. Playing keyboard with his side to the audience for virtually the entire 90-minute set, Dylan's scratchy voice sounded even more shot than usual and was often out of synch with his band. Yet between Dylan's growl and the band's deft, blues-rocking playing, some songs hit the target and served as a reminder of how powerful a Dylan performance can be.

Petty and the Heartbreakers, by contrast, were consistently excellent, exceeding their own high standards. Petty's two virtuoso players, lead guitarist Mike Campbell and pianist Benmont Tench, stretched out with beautiful if concise solo work during a flawless, tight, 2-hour set of mighty, chiming rock.

The two bands came together for two songs. During Dylan's encores, Petty and Campbell joined Dylan's band on "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" and "All Along the Watchtower." Playing electric guitars, Petty and Mike Campbell created a fierce, exciting jam with Dylan's guitarists, Freddie Koella and Larry Campbell. Petty joined in the singing late on both songs.

The two PNC shows, set up after the northeast version of the Bonnaroo festival was canceled, are the only Dylan/Petty pairings scheduled for 2003.

The audience, which filled the seats and packed the lawn area on Saturday, appeared to be divided roughly equally between Dylan fans and Petty fans, but the response to the two bands was quite different. Fans mostly sat during Dylan's set, and applauded enthusiastically. When Petty played, most of the fans were on their feet most of the time, and they applauded and cheered wildly.

Dylan's first two songs served as a guide to how uneven his set would be. Opening with a spirited version of the bluesy rocker, "Silvio," Dylan's voice sounded only slightly craggy and the song hit the spot. But the weakness in Dylan's voice was all too clear on the next song, "If You See Her, Say Hello," one of the prettiest and most emotionally vulnerable ballads in the entire Dylan catalogue. Sounding like he was badly in need of clearing his throat as he spewed out the words aimlessly, Dylan demolished his masterpiece.

But Dylan hit pay dirt on one of his strangest songs, "Joey," an affectionate tribute to slain mobster Joe Gallo. He and the band sounded positively inspired performing the song as a tight, hard-hitting power ballad.

Dylan's keyboard playing was, for the most part, undistinguished, and was frequently indistinguishable. Yet his barrelhouse style made a major contribution on two songs: "Watching the River Flow" was an infectious, rollicking delight, and "Can't Wait," from the 1997 album, "Time Out of Mind," sounded especially grim and death-like.

When the band ended its set with "Honest With Me" and "Summer Days," two rousing blues-rockers from Dylan's latest album of new material, 2001's "Love and Theft," Dylan briefly left his piano during a guitar break for a happy, rocking little dance at the front of the stage. Despite his many shortcomings as a performer, Dylan's sets still have their moments.

It was clear from the start of Petty's set that there would be many, many moments. Opening with a stratospheric rendition of "American Girl," a song that Petty normally performs as an encore, it was obvious he and the Heartbreakers would need no warm-up time.

The band played tight, on-the-money versions of several hits and then went on to unanticipated heights. The band performed a warm, flowing "Handle With Care," a song that Petty recorded with Dylan and others in the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. Although Dylan didn't join the group for this song, a touching arrangement featured Petty singing the lead part that the late George Harrison did in the original and steel guitarist Scott Thurston singing the second lead that the late Roy Orbison did in the original.

Petty introduced a new song, "Melinda," a haunting ballad that featured a lovely, classical-influenced piano solo by Tench.

Then it was time for a show-stopping cover of "I'm Crying," a 1964 song by the Animals. With their dramatic harmonies, Campbell's blaring, psychedelic guitar attack and Tench's pumping keyboard, Petty and the Heartbreakers extended the song and gave it a bold new life. It was a demonstration that the Heartbreakers' skill, imagination and soul in performing straight-ahead rock 'n 'roll puts them in a class with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and few others.

Dylan & Petty - From tompetty.com: TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS AND BOB DYLAN TO ALTERNATE CLOSING THE SHOW AT SPECIAL AUGUST 9 AND 10 CONCERTS IN HOLMDEL, NEW JERSEY

TOM PETTY and the HEARTBREAKERS will alternate opening and closing duties with Bob Dylan and his band when the artists share a special double bill Saturday, August 9 and Sunday, August 10 at Holmdel, New Jersey's PNC Bank Center.

TOM PETTY and the HEARTBREAKERS will close the Saturday show-taking the stage at 9:30 PM--with Bob Dylan opening at 7:30 PM.

For the Sunday concert, TOM PETTY and the HEARTBREAKERS will perform at 7:30 PM, followed by Bob Dylan at 9:30 PM.

Please note: traffic can be heavy going into the show. Be sure to allow extra time if you don't want to miss the start of the show.

Don Henley on Petty - QUESTION: Are you still friends with Tom Petty?

HENLEY: I am, and I admired his last album (`The Last DJ') tremendously.

QUESTION: Well, Tom told me last year that he's never seen a rock show that was worth $150 a ticket. The prices for The Eagles' concert here in San Diego range from $49 to $158, and there were some tickets priced at just over $300. How do you justify that?

HENLEY: I don't know anything about $300 ticket prices, but our manager will be happy to call you. We've been careful on this tour to be below some of our peers' ticket prices, like Billy Joel and Elton John, for example. We went over that with our manager, at the beginning of the tour, that we wanted to be below some other people's prices.

QUESTION: But $300 sounds pretty exorbitant, doesn't it?

HENLEY: I really don't know anything about that figure. There are charities involved with some of this.

QUESTION: You mean your non-profit Walden Woods preservation charity group?

HENLEY: Sometimes mine, sometimes somebody else's. But to be fair, I think you'll find there are $40 tickets at stops on this tour; there's a wide range of prices. And, frankly, we've been dong this for 32 years now, and when you're at the top of your field and accomplished as much as we have, you get paid more.

That's true in any industry. I admire Tom (Petty) a great deal, but I don't necessarily agree with him on this issue. As I've said jokingly: 'Sometimes antiques cost more!'

Our band and crew numbers 92 people. We create a lot of jobs for truck drivers, sound and lighting technicians, electricians, guitar roadies, drum roadies, as well as for the numerous people in each city, who are generally unionized, who come and work in the loading docks at the venues where we play. So a great many jobs are created.

I can say one thing, though, this (touring) is about the only way an artist can make money any more. If consumers weren't stealing from us on the Internet (by downloading songs without paying the artists), and if record companies weren't stealing from us in our contracts, ticket prices might go down.

We're caught in the middle ... we're being stolen from on both sides, by so-called fans and so-called reputable record companies.

Atlanta Preview - This is from today's Atlanta Journal. And because I'm a guy and like to inflate my ego as much as possible, I posted the AJC review of GoneGator.Com from 2001 on the right.

THE ULTIMATE MIX CD: Petty pours out heart in underrated career

CONSISTENTLY ENTERTAINING, distinctively American and an often underrated songwriter, Tom Petty has amassed a singular body of work that few can match. His emergence in the mid-'70s was greeted with the then-popular "new Bob Dylan" pronouncements.

But Petty and the Heartbreakers sounded a lot more like the Byrds tangling with the Rolling Stones, with Dylan as referee. Here's a sampler of a favorite Petty tunes we'd burn on a CD. And though this list stops at 10, it could easily go a lot higher with no depreciation in quality.

1. "Breakdown." A song from the eponymous first album that exudes tension as a simmering verse boils over into a roaring chorus. It became Petty's first Top 40 hit in 1978, but just barely, since it peaked at No. 40.

2. "American Girl." This is what might have happened if the Byrds covered a Springsteen tune: heartland rock with a fetching jangle.

3. "Listen to Her Heart." The lush, gorgeous chime of the twelve-string guitar makes this one of the most Byrds-like tunes in Petty's catalog.

4. "Magnolia." A sublime auditory evocation of the lyric's "wet Southern night," this nostalgic ode to a fleeting amorous encounter is one of Petty's overlooked gems.

5. "Free Fallin'." One of Petty's most powerful and emotional songs, many consider it his finest. It's from the Jeff Lynne-produced "Full Moon Fever," ostensibly Petty's first solo effort, as opposed to a Heartbreakers album. But Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell is all over it and other band members make appearances, too.

6. "Don't Come Around Here No More." Light touches of psychedelia first crept into Petty's sound on 1985's "Southern Accents," produced by Eurythmics' Dave Stewart.

7. "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." Petty duetted with Stevie Nicks on this infectious track he wrote with Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell. It appeared on Nicks' solo debut "Bella Donna" and became its first hit.

8. "Refugee." Still Petty's finest achievement, the 1979 album "Damn the Torpedoes" was his commercial breakthrough. This fiery rocker and "Don't Do Me Like That" were both Top 20 singles, but the album is one of those rare recordings that doesn't have a weak track. The whole thing has become so familiar that it's hard to believe those two songs were the only chart hits.

9. "The Waiting." An inspired rocker with an infectious, memorable chorus hails from the follow-up to "Damn the Torpedoes," the almost-as-good "Hard Promises." It was Petty's third Top 10 hit.

10. "You Don't Know How It Feels." After a couple of albums helmed by Lynne, Petty toned down the production for 1994's "Wildflowers," which included this lovely, introspective shuffle.

New Tonight Show Appearance - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will be on the "Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on Thursday, August 7, 2003. This will be a new show, not a repeat of a past performance.

For a chance to win a "vintage" picture of Tom & Mike taken in 1983 at a Gainesville hometown concert Feb 10th, 1983 as a prize, with a little "bonus" picture thrown in...bornarebel77 will post a question at the official BBS after the Tonight show Thursday Aug 7th and all correct answers go into a random drawing