Editor's Note: Thanks to Cathy Kemer for the newspaper scan.
Petty Delivers Vibrant Show
By Bob Sharpe
Bethlehem Globe-Times - February 17, 1983
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers delivered a vibrant, and not unmemorable, 105-minute Stabler Arena concert Thursday night before a lively audience of 4,563.
Opening with "A One Story Town," his current single, and selecting from his portfolio of five albums, Petty returned the crowd's energetic affection with dazed but knowing grins.
Petty and his band played such hallmarks as "Breakdown," "Refugee," and the plaintive "The Waiting," which was introduced by Petty as "one of my favorite songs."
Yet, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' most recent album, Long After Dark, may be the group's greatest accomplishment.
Carrying with them sincere overtones of bitterness and loneliness, "Change of Heart" and the synthesizer-coated "You Got Lucky" were among the new songs played by Petty.
Petty's voice can cry a delicate wail, or be surprisingly vibrant and bold.
"This is the world -- famous Allentown," Petty kidded the crowd. He later drew applause by inserting the phrase, "You work so hard down at Moravian," into a song.
Petty reappeared onstage for the first encore, understating, "We just came out to tell you rock 'n' roll didn't die." Then came 12 fun minutes of "Shout," always included in a Petty concert.
Petty, 31, is the son of a Gainesville, Fla., insurance salesman.
Band members are lead guitarist Mike Campbell, 32, also from Florida; keyboardist Benmont Tench; drummer Stan Lynch, assisted by tour percussionist Phil Jones, and new bassist Howie Epstein, who also lends vocals.
The opening act was Noise to Go, a name with singer-songwriters Nick Lowe, of pop fame, and Paul Carrack, formerly of Squeeze and Ace.
Carrack, who plays piano and organ, sang "How Long," a 1974 Ace hit, and "Tempted," last year's Squeeze hit.
Guitarist Lowe, who after joining with Carrack may have an identity crisis, failed to perform his best-selling song "Cruel to Be Kind," from 1979, and the 1978 pop classic "Breaking Glass."