"Call the babysitter and tell her you're gonna be late."
That was the opening salvo from Tom Petty to a raucous, sold-out Fenway Park, where I had the opportunity to take in the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers show in Boston this weekend. It was a welcome reminder just how great this band is. From the dues-paying Byrds' opener "So You Want to Be a Rock'n'Roll Star?" to the final strains of "American Girl," Petty and his band delivered hit after hit. On a warm summer night, it felt more like having a live jukebox party with 40,000 of your closest friends. And while the band gets scant airplay these days, Petty's recent "Forgotten Man" and the current single "U Get Me High" stand alongside his classic hits proudly. But, man...what a string of hits. It's a testament to Petty's songwriting that he can leave a ton of hits on the table and still deliver classic afer classic for two-plus hours. And while "Even The Losers," "Here Comes My Girl," "Listen To Her Heart" and the more recent "You Don't Know How It Feels" didn't make the cut, "Into The Great Wide Open" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance" did. There were transcendent, singalong versions of "Learning to Fly" and, especially, "Free Fallin'," the best song of the night.
It was an opportunity to hear an American classic, a band I first saw on the "Damn The Torpedos" tour in...gulp...1980! Today, they remind me of a combination of Booker T. & The MGs and Creedence Clearwater Revival and damned if that ain't the sweet spot. In today's music space, bands this tight, with such excellent ensemble players, are easy to lose sight of and that's a shame. They simply don't come around here no more....
Oh. And Tom Petty reminded the crowd that the babysitter had probaby already let her boyfriend in...so sit back and enjoy. I did. So should you...
#tompetty #tompettyandtheheartbreakers #heartbreakers #fenway #fenwaypark #americangirl
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