Weather adds drama to stellar Petty concert
By Daniel Durchholz
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Monday, July 19, 2010
As if Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' concert at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Sunday wasn't spectacle enough, fans in the upper pavilion and lawn seating areas of the venue were treated to an epic light show of natural origin.
Throughout the evening, giant thunderheads to the south produced a constant barrage of lightning in sheets and streaks, though no rain ever fell on the venue to mar the evening.
One could infer, perhaps, that God (or Zeus, or your deity of choice) is a Tom Petty fan, too, and simply wanted to sit in.
Five questions with Mike Campbell, guitarist for the Heartbreakers
By Martin Bandyke
Detroit Free Press - July 22, 2010
"A delicate beast." That's how Mike Campbell describes being in a rock band. "The slightest thing can derail you," says the guitarist for Tom Petty's Heartbreakers. "Ego, a woman or money can trip you up, but with us, it's the love of the music that is bigger than all of us." A founding member of the Heartbreakers, Campbell can shred paint with his instrument when he needs to, but he always serves a song's needs first. His tasteful and economical playing has led to recording gigs with the likes of Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Warren Zevon and Roy Orbison.
Talking to the Free Press by phone from his home in Woodland Hills, Calif., Campbell spoke about the mojo that went into "Mojo," the powerful new album from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Still going strong after forming in the mid-'70s, the group performs tonight at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Concert reviews: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Review by Justin Jacobs
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Monday, July 26, 2010
Though heavy rain demolished chances of the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers concert at First Niagara Pavilion being a comfortable experience, fans wouldn't back down.
Aside from a small run of new songs, Mr. Petty's Saturday night set was a hits-only affair, and the audience ate up every familiar guitar riff, every radio chorus.
The Heartbreakers quietly took the stage after a raging set of driving country-rock from the Drive-By Truckers -- worthy heirs to Mr. Petty's straightforward rock approach -- and dove into "Listen to Her Heart," followed by "You Don't Know How It Feels."
But we did know how it felt -- damp. Not a problem, though.
"We got a hot, sticky night for some rock 'n' roll," said Mr. Petty to the crowd's approval before launching a string of his most classic sing-alongs: "Won't Back Down," then "Free Fallin'" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance."
Taking Fans on a Walk, Going Beyond His Hits
By Ben Ratliff
The New York Times - July 30, 2010
Over the years Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have made a lot of repetitive songs that don't force you to think about them as such. Sometimes they've got sweet bridges and tiny solos; they're layered and warm and bar-band authentic. They're about rock 'n' roll as sacrament, highways, the sun in your hair, boys and girls turning one anothers' heads. They're locked into their sentimentality and carry a promise that Mr. Petty will never change much.
LEHIGH VALLEY MUSIC: Tom Petty still a heartbreaker
The Morning Call - August 2, 2010
It was evident from the time Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers took the stage Sunday at Philadelphia's Wachovia Arena to the familiar chiming guitar and soaring organ of "Listen to Her Heart" that time has changed him.
Now 20 albums and nearly 35 years into his career, the 59-year-old Petty is no longer the cynical songster who helped carry rock and roll through punk in the late 1970s, nor the hitmaker of the 1980s.
Petty relaunches 'Torpedo'
The Arab Times - Friday, August 13, 2010
LOS ANGELES, Aug 12, (RTRS): Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are giving short shrift to one of their biggest albums on their current North American tour. The only song from "Damn the Torpedoes" to make the cut is "Refugee," which typically ends the main set.
But fans wanting to experience a bit more from the 1979 release can now pick up the latest addition to the "Classic Albums" DVD collection, in which artists dissect their greatest albums track by track.
Petty and his bandmates, along with co-producer Jimmy Iovine and engineer Shelly Yakus, revisit such hits as "Even the Losers," "Here Comes My Girl," "Don't Do Me Like That" and "Refugee."
Concert Review: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Nashville, TN - August 12, 2010
By Josh Hathaway
Seattle Post-Intelligencer - Tuesday, August 17, 2010
One of the first rules of show business is always leave the audience wanting more. Some bands have found that easy enough to do, never quite living up to expectations or by, well, flat out sucking. For more than 30 years, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers have perfected the art of leaving their audience wanting more while still sending them home smiling.
As much as I love live music, there are a lot of obstacles that stand between me and a show on any given night. It takes a lot to get me to deal with Ticketmaster, travel, parking, crowds, and dealing with the time and money constraints. There aren't many bands I've paid to see more than once despite my musical obsession. I saw Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers for the third time last Thursday night in Nashville and they delivered a performance so strong I can guaran-damn-tee I'll see them a fourth.
Concert review of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at Jiffy Lube Live
By Chris Klimek
The Washington Post - Tuesday, August 17, 2010
When Tom Petty allowed himself a few words in praise of his since-forever band, the Heartbreakers, on Sunday night at Jiffy Lube Live, he introduced drummer Steve Ferrone as "the man who gets the job done." Petty could just as easily been doing something he seems to detest: talking about himself.
Everyone knows you don't go to Tom Petty for flash or invention. You go to him for the thing he has come to embody more than any other rocker of his generation: excitement-free dependability. Since 1976, he's rarely let more than a couple of years go by without giving us another song or three that sounds just perfect on the radio of a car with the windows open. He's always made writing great -- well, greatish -- songs look easy.
'Mojo' rising: Tom Petty and crew have the Heartbreakers in the right place
The Boston Herald - August 18, 2010
Grouchy rock fossils love to gripe about today's music.
It's all pop pap! It's nothing but Auto-Tuned vocals and MacBook generated drumbeats!
I advise the grumpy geezers to actually listen to some of today's rock bands -- start with the Hold Steady, Black Keys and Drive-By Truckers. And then to listen to some old band's new music, namely Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' excellent "Mojo."
On their first disc since 2002's "The Last DJ," Petty and crew -- who play the Comcast Center Thursday and Saturday -- conjured their most classic-sounding album in 25 years.