Tom Petty rock band to play here
Eugene Register-Guard - Thursday, June 8, 1978
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, one of the nation's most-discussed new rock bands, will perform a concert at 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Lane County Fairgrounds.
Tickets are available at the Sun Shop, Everybody's Record and Odyssey Records for $6.50 each. They will also be sold at the door for $7.50 each.
Petty is considered an overnight success in the rock music industry, yet he has been performing for 10 years. He grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., then moved to Los Angeles as a teen-ager, where he has played in a number of rock bands.
Petty put together the Heartbreakers two years ago then snagged a record contract last year that resulted in the release of an album many critics glowingly praised. As a result, Petty was called the best newcomer of 1977 and the band played before large crowds in California and Great Britain.
Petty's music is loud and rambunctious. It is a return to the defiant and desperate classic rock and roll roots popularized by Eddie Cochran and the Rolling Stones.
Although still a new band, Petty and the Heartbreakers have had a major hit with "American Girl," a song included in the soundtrack of the motion picture "FM."
Opening the concert will be the Dave Johannsen Band. Johannsen was one of the founders of the controversial New York Dolls.