Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 2017 "40 Anniversary" Tour Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by McCool, Apr 16, 2017.

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  1. McCool

    McCool Forum Resident Thread Starter

    There are literally scores of videos from opening night available on YouTube right now although I must say a user known as FlightBag89 has distinguished himself as being one of the very best custodians of the live music of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Check out some of his fantastic work with some amazing close ups (and Petty playing the harmonica for the first time on stage in years!):

     
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  2. windfall

    windfall Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    I see Ron Blair has embraced the grey with a vegeance. He now looks like a slightly younger Bob Weir.
     
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  3. windfall

    windfall Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    Nice to see the Don't Come Around Here hat routine back!
     
  4. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    Weird. I saw him in 2014 for the first time, and felt like it was the opposite of a greatest hits set. Short (only 19 songs), and by the time you took out the Hypnotic Eye stuff, two Winwood guest spots, Byrds cover, and two or three album cuts, he barely scratched the surface of his hits. Although personally, the Full Moon Fever hits trio and "Mary Jane" are probably my least favorite Petty songs, so that didn't help. He sort of sleptwalk through the show...i'd like to give it another chance, but only if I can find a super cheap ticket on stubhub the day of the show.
     
  5. windfall

    windfall Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    American Girl worth a look. The final chord lasts two full minutes. And I guess Petty can afford to abuse a Rickenbacker. Plenty more back at the clubhouse.
     
  6. MikeVielhaber

    MikeVielhaber Forum Resident

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    Yeah I was going to put in the caveat that it was a tour supporting a new album and thus some of the set was dedicated to the new songs. But outside of those most of the rest were hits.

    I feel like maybe they weren't entirely on the show I saw too, but I enjoyed it. I didn't get a ticket to this one even though I was interested in seeing it, but the only reasonably priced tickets were lawn seats. I'm more and more being priced out of concerts these days.
     
  7. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    Yeah. Just...the list of hits he didn't play seemed bigger than the ones he did. Which, I mean, Petty is an artist and can do what he wants. But at $150+ ticket prices (disclosure: I paid $20 for a nosebleed off the street), I'd expect at least a two hour show and at least a few pre-1989 hits besides "Refugee" and "American Girl", y'know? I dunno, it just wasn't a great show at all, which was a bummer, because I'd always been a big fan and just somehow missed seeing him.

    (Also, a guy who made an entire record bashing music industry greed charging $150+ for tickets, and selling $600 "VIP packages" seems pretty absurd)
     
  8. KinkySmallFace1991

    KinkySmallFace1991 Will you come back to me, Sweet Lady Genevieve?

    That Rickenbacker 12-string was CUSTOM MADE for him the 2012 tour. He must've been watching old footage of The Who is all I can think of, as Townshend was notorious for abusing his Rickenbackers like the one Tom throws around.

    Here it is (along with a matching 6-string) right before it was shipped from the Rickenbacker factory to Tom:
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    [​IMG]

    The backing vocalists are a bit strange, but I'm guessing that Tom and Scott can't hit the high notes anymore. I'd like a bit more info on them and why they're on this tour, as the last tour that had backing vocalists was the 1985 Southern Accents tour, and we all know how Tom and Mike feel about that one.
     
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  9. McCool

    McCool Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Last night in Big D...This video gives you a pretty good take on the HUGE video screen the boys have brought along with them on this tour. Nice to see Ron Blair front and center as well as last night was particularly special for him as his family was able to take in the show. Petty looking particularly snazzy as well here:

     
  10. KinkySmallFace1991

    KinkySmallFace1991 Will you come back to me, Sweet Lady Genevieve?

    Looks like banging his Ric around blew up in his face. The video from last night shows Tom playing a Fender XII on "American Girl" instead of his custom Ric:


    I wonder if I should loan Tom my Ric 12 for the gig Saturday...
     
  11. pocofan

    pocofan Senior Member

    Location:
    Alabama
    Have just a few TP and The Heartbreakers albums. Mike Campbell is perhaps one of the most overlooked and under rated guitar players ever.
     
  12. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA
    I'll be there, and I am very excited as well!!
     
  13. I saw him only once, in 2010, and he and the Heartbreakers were great, except when they did new songs; they all stunk, and it just deflated the mood in the whole building, (the Oracle), *FIVE* of those, all in a row. And Petty wasn't happy about this.
    But they were really great other than that terrible part of the concert. This tour looks like one should see at the very least a pretty good show in it.
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2017
  14. KinkySmallFace1991

    KinkySmallFace1991 Will you come back to me, Sweet Lady Genevieve?

    Perhaps we'll run into each other! I'll be down in the front. I'll be taking photos, NOT video.
     
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  15. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA
    I'm in the back row! But at least I have a seat and not on the lawn.
     
  16. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA
    I hope new ones get played at this one, because Hypnotic Eye is a great record with some songs that should work really well live.
     
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  17. KinkySmallFace1991

    KinkySmallFace1991 Will you come back to me, Sweet Lady Genevieve?

    So was Mojo, but if the last two nights set a template for the next 5 months, it seems as if only "Forgotten Man" and "American Dream" will be the only HE songs being played this tour, while "I Shoulda Known It" is the ONLY Mojo track.

    When I saw them at JazzFest in 2012, they played "Good Enough" and "Lover's Touch". My goodness those two songs sent chills down my spine when I heard them. I don't know why the band stopped playing them.
     
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  18. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    He sleptwalk (and/or was suuuuper stoned) when I saw him in 2014 (and also during that Fenway Park show I saw on TV once). I really enjoy older live recordings though, and the live box set, so I think it's a fairly recent development.

    He was much, much better during the Mudcrutch show I saw last year. Not exactly Mick Jagger onstage, but was so much more happy and engaged with the music at that gig. Really glad to have seen him do a great show once, even if it didn't involve any Heartbreakers songs. (And really, the Mudcrutch records are better than any Heartbreakers record since She's The One)
     
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  19. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA
    If only they'd drop Free Fallin'. I'm serious.
     
  20. KinkySmallFace1991

    KinkySmallFace1991 Will you come back to me, Sweet Lady Genevieve?

    Finally! Someone who's with me on that song. Look, I loved it when I first heard it, but it's so stale and overplayed now. Worse still, when I mention to someone I love Petty, they immediately start singing that song. I can only guess they're obliged to play it. Might get a corn dog or something while they're playing it. It was absent at all of the Beacon/Fonda shows.
     
  21. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA
    And I pretty much love all the other hits...
     
  22. McCool

    McCool Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Petty addressed this in an interview prior to the start of this tour. To paraphrase he stated that he tries to put himself in the shoes of his audience and the songs that his audience would go home disappointed if they didn't hear them and obviously that includes songs like "Free Fallin'", "Mary Jane's Last Dance", "I Won't Back Down", "Runnin' Down A Dream", "Refugee" and "American Girl" as those six have been staples of Petty's show since the mid nineties. It's also worth noting that on the occasions where Petty has mapped out a tour where he eschewed playing those particular tracks, he received undeserved flak from critics such as this contemptuous review from 2002:

    Review: Skipping his hits is Tom Petty's approach
     
  23. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA
    Oh I know he's in the position where he has to play many of these, just my selfish desires. I admit although he has dozens of songs I really love, I'd feel a little odd if I didn't get American Girl (perfect encore song, if you ask me).

    And I don't consider A Woman in Love (It's Not Me) second-tier, but maybe I'm alone in that.
     
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  24. rck60s

    rck60s Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Atlanta, Ga, USA
    Joe Walsh is the opening act on a bunch of dates....He will steal the show.
     
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  25. FashionBoy

    FashionBoy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I still can't get used to Steve Ferrone in this band... the chemistry isn't there.
     
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