Doctors halt Tom Petty tour
Rolling Stone #357 -- November 26, 1981
"I'm gonna go somewhere and pass out," declared an exhausted Tom Petty, after doctors persuaded him to bow out of his last two U.S. tour dates, lest his road-ravaged vocal cords develop nodes. Petty and the Heartbreakers concluded their four-month excursion by playing their first hometown gig in Gainesville, Florida, since splitting for greener pastures seven years ago. After copping a key to the city earlier in the day, the band tore through an hour and a half set, highlighted by Stevie Nicks' joining Petty on "Hard Promises" and their hit duet, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," and rockabilly ace Joe Ely's contributing to a kick-out-the-jams version of "Wild Thing." Next project for the rail-thin rocker: a collaboration with Fifties star Del Shannon, and perhaps a British and European tour early in 1982.