Petty works his Mojo at MTS
By Darryl Sterdan
Winnipeg Sun - June 20, 2010
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers | June 19, MTS Centre | With Joe Cocker | Sun Rating: 4 out of 5
Something old, something new, something borrowed and plenty of blues.
No, there wasn't a wedding — but Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers did achieve a near-perfect union of musical styles and eras during their Saturday night gig at MTS Centre.
Playing the downtown arena for the second time in 24 months and armed with tunes from their first new album in almost eight years — not to mention more than three decades of radio-rock standards and staples — the veteran California sextet held 10,000 rambunctious fans in the palm for the duration of a well-paced 115-minute set.
"It's great to be back here," remarked the 59-year-old Petty, looking dapper in a blue velvet suitjacket, his recent beard trimmed back to a demonic goatee. "We've got quite a lot of songs to play for you tonight, so I'm gonna get right to it."
Tom Petty stretches his rock 'n' blues muscles
By Jon Bream
Minneapolis Star Tribune - June 23, 2010
Bruce Springsteen, Sting and Tom Petty came from blue-collar families, fell in love with rock 'n' roll as kids, launched their recording careers in the 1970s and all ended up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
And they're all still active and vital. Sting and Springsteen remain among the Hall of Fame's most ambitious musicmakers. Sting, 58, performed in St. Paul Monday with a 45-piece symphony doing orchestral interpretations of his vast catalog. Since being AARP eligible, Springsteen, now 60, has become a prolific recording artist and age-defying dynamo onstage who has outdistanced his longtime bandmates.
Petty, who turns 60 in October, remains pretty much the same as he ever was. Except that the Heartbreakers, the King of Laidback Rock's band, sound better than ever -- well into their fourth decade together. On Tuesday at the Xcel Energy Center, Steve Ferrone's drums were thick, crisp and driving, Mike Campbell's guitar glistened, Scott Thurston's guitar, organ and harmonica filled in the gaps, Benmont Tench's keyboards splashed colors from a wide palette, and Ron Blair's bass added precision bounce. When you've got a band that crackles like that, Petty couldn't help but sound good.
Review: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers rock the Qwest
By Kevin Coffey
Omaha World-Herald - Thursday, June 24, 2010
What a night. What a singalong.
When Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers delivered "American Girl," their most longstanding hit, the 10,000-plus in attendance answered back with loud, breathless singing of the inconic chorus: "Oh yeah. Alright. Take it easy, baby. Make it last all night. She was an American Girl."
While that song stood out the most, it certainly wasn't out of place as Petty and his band performed 18 songs on Wednesday night at Qwest Center Omaha.
"Well how are ya?" Petty said. "We're back in Omaha one more time. We got a lot of songs planned for ya tonight and, well, we're going to get right into it."
Two rock vets glad to have the blues
By Jesse De Leon
Corpus Christi Caller-Times - Friday, June 25, 2010
Tom Petty, Steve Miller return with albums
CORPUS CHRISTI -- It's been nearly eight years since Tom Petty released an album with his band the Heartbreakers.
A highlight of the band's sprawling catalog is the tough, slickly produced "Damn the Torpedoes," its 1979 masterwork that has become the record against which most of Petty's releases have been measured.
It wasn't until 1989's "Full Moon Fever," a solo project apart from the Heartbreakers, that Petty's laid back approach emerged with winning results. The album yielded a handful of hits, not the least of which was "Free Fallin'," his watermark solo moment.
Through the '90s and beyond, Petty has recorded with and without the Heartbreakers, but on his latest, "MOJO" (Reprise), he regroups with the guys to concoct an intoxicating brew of blues, folk, and his own brand of rock that rolls a little slower than past efforts but is no less interesting.
Rooted in the southern experience
By Doug Gallant
Charlottetown Guardian - June 26, 2010
Tom Petty chose the title for his latest project well.
MOJO pretty much says it all.
Petty, who will turn 60 this fall, truly got his mojo workin' when he and The Heartbreakers entered the studio to make what is, for all intents and purposes, their first real studio album in more than five years.
"With this album, I want to show other people what I hear with the band," the Grammy Award-winning Petty says on his website. "MOJO is where the band lives when it's playing for itself."
Only they're not playing for themselves, they're playing for you.
Consider yourself lucky.
Mojo | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | Warner
Review by Luke Kenny
Hindustan Times - June 28, 2010
Tom Petty has always been a fan of straight up rock 'n' roll with a bit of the blues thrown in. A lot of his music reflects his influences and contemporaries from people like Bob Dylan and George Harrison, to bands like the Beatles and The Yardbirds. But having said that, Tom Petty is his own musician, his own rock star and his own influence.
This is his 12th studio album with his band The Heartbreakers and it's an album of all the honesty one has come to expect from a hardened bunch of musicians led by the charming Tom Petty. The smirky delivery of lyrics and the simplistic arrangements make this one a breeze to listen to. An interesting thing to note is that the album was recorded live in a studio with most musicians including Petty playing on vintage equipment. Now that's cool.
Heartbreakers jettison frills to find their 'Mojo'
By Daniel Durchholz
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Thursday, July 15, 2010
Before Tom Petty rejoined with his longtime band, the Heartbreakers, to make "Mojo," their first new album in eight years, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer spent several years looking back.
First there was "Runnin' Down a Dream," an exhaustive Grammy-winning documentary film directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Then there was a reunion with Mudcrutch, Petty's pre-Heartbreakers band from Florida. Last year saw the release of "The Live Anthology," a four-CD retrospective of Petty & the Heartbreakers dynamic concert recordings from 1978-2007.
"I don't know why Tom fell into that thought process for a couple of years there," says Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, Petty's right-hand man since the Mudcrutch days. —"'Mojo' is kind of a reaction to that, but also an affirmation."
Rock/Pop: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | Mojo Reprise ★★★
Review by Joe Breen
The Irish Times - July 16, 2010
For their first studio album in eight years, Petty & co return to blues-based basics, with mixed results. Petty and the rest of the seasoned team must have mused over old memories for hours before coming up with this riff-laden collection; guitarist Mike Campbell even dug up his old wah-wah pedal to add authenticity to the mix. There are 15 tracks on Mojo, which as at least two too many; the turgid Lover's Touch and the ersatz reggae of Don't Pull Me Over are simply wearing. But Petty, now edging 60, is on better form letting it rip on Jefferson Jericho Blues; recalling his rakish past on The Trip's to Pirate's Cove, shuffling J.J. Cale-like on Let Yourself Go; coming over all tender on No Reason to Cry; and savouring British blues-rock on I Should Have Known It. The ghosts of past blues giants pervade, but the band's distinctive voice keeps the album well ahead of its influences.
Download tracks: The Trip to Pirate's Cove, No Reason to Cry
Tom Petty, Heartbreakers jangle in harmony at United Center
By Bob Gendron
Chicago Tribune - July 18, 2010
Nearly a decade ago, U2 proudly announced it was reapplying for the job of the best band in the world. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have never made such an audacious claim. But Saturday at a packed United Center, the ensemble made a strong case for at least being considered for the position. The sextet's inventive days are gone, yet the communication, cohesiveness and chemistry that Petty and his mates demonstrated for 110 minutes should serve as a lesson to all musicians—particularly hoary legacy acts content to coast on their laurels.
From the big jangle of the opening "Listen to Her Heart" through the country-tinged pep of the closing "American Girl," the Heartbreakers treated every tune as a vehicle for collaborative expression. Akin to the 2005 World Champion White Sox, there aren't any superstars in the Heartbreakers. Dressed in a crushed velvet sports coat, Petty didn't hog the spotlight, and neither did his eager supporting cast. The all-for-one approach allowed each member to step in with key contributions, whether they came in the form of keyboardist Benmont Tench's raindrop-evoking piano fills or jack-of-all-trades Scott Thurston's dusty harmonica accents. Reinvigorated since their last tour, the Heartbreakers epitomized how a great rock band operates—and acts.