NASHVILLE |FROM: MITCH SCHNEIDER
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
AT THE 20 SOLD-OUT SHOWS BY
TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS
AT THE FILLMORE IN SAN FRANCISCO;
HISTORIC, PRECEDENT-SETTING AND
CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED RUN
IN-PROGRESS THROUGH FEBRUARY 7
Different set lists every night; the inclusion of outtakes, rarities and cover tunes; acoustic and/or stripped-down versions of their classic songs; some blues, rockabilly, country, surf, bluegrass and folk; and alternating opening acts.
A true freewheeling spirit is guiding TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS through their in-progress engagement of 20 sold-out shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco, which launched this past weekend (Friday, January 10) and will conclude February 7.
Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle of the opening weekend, Joel Selvin noted: “It was one of rock music’s top outfits of the past 20 years relaxed and doing what it does best. This band is so unpretentious, so effortless, it’s almost easy to overlook how great it is. And when Petty’s enormous catalog and consistent excellence are weighed, he has to be considered one of the greatest in the history of music.”
Selvin added: “What it will mean in the long run to Petty and his band, only time will tell. In the meantime, what is happening at the Fillmore is nothing less than rock ‘n’ roll at its best. And nothing less than the making of a significant piece of rock ‘n’ roll history.”
Philip Elwood, of the San Francisco Examiner, concurs: “For Petty, the Heartbreakers, and his audiences, these performances are a gathering of the congregation, a real affirmation of faith–in the rock ‘n’ roll gospel.”
Elsewhere, Wayne Saroyan commented in the Contra Costa Times: “A 20-night run at a hall like the Fillmore is unprecedented in the club’s history, and a unique milestone in rock ‘n’ roll. But that’s Petty: embracing tradition with one hand, up-ending it with the other.”
The audience also deserves a round of applause.
Their orderly behavior at the Saturday, January 11 show prevented chaos from ensuing when the show was stopped abruptly toward the end of the band’s set because of an altercation between two concert-goers, one of which (he was arrested) pepper-sprayed the other. Although no one was injured, the effects of the pepper spray had an array of fans in the crowd of 1250 coughing and struggling to breathe. Soon, many in the audience left the main room, with some temporarily exiting the building. 45 minutes later–after the fire department inspected the site and deemed the ventilation appropriate–TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS took the stage again to finish their set (four more songs, including a rave-up of the rock nugget “Gloria”). “Thank you for sticking around,” TOM PETTY told the audience.
Lots of different songs were played over the weekend for an audience that included guests Jackson Browne, Winona Ryder and Dave Bryson from Counting Crows: “Keepin’ Me Alive,” “On The Street” and a cover of Conway Twitty’s “Image Of Me” (all three only featured on 1995’s PLAYBACK boxed set); the Ventures’ surfbeat “Slaughter On 10th Avenue”; acoustically driven covers of Elvis Presley’s “Treat Me Nice” (in honor of his 1/8 birthday), Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine”; an especially tough-sounding interpretation of “Time Is On My Side” (the R&B classic popularized by the Rolling Stones in the ’60s) and such time-honored rock gems as “Rip It Up,” “Shakin’ All Over” and “Little Girl” (the latter by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers). These were played alongside such PETTY songs as “Jammin’ Me” (“take back Newt Gingrich,” PETTY sang, updating the lyrics of this 1987 song), “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” “Free Fallin’,” “The Best Of Everything,” “It’s Good To Be King,” “Kings Highway,” “The Apartment Song,” “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” “You Wreck Me” and “Walls,” among others. Another highlight: a cover of “Asshole,” which PETTY called “a lovely song by Beck” (it’s featured on TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS‘ current album, SONGS AND MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE “SHE’S THE ONE”).
Opening the January 10 and January 11 shows were the Wallflowers (with HEARTBREAKERS‘ guitarist MIKE CAMPBELL reprising the powerful slide guitar part he plays on the group’s recording of “6th Avenue Heartache”). For the other shows, PETTY has invited a diverse array of artists to alternate as opening acts: Byrds founder Roger McGuinn; ex-Pixies frontman Frank Black; Pete Droge (who opened many shows on the group’s “Wildflowers” tour in 1995); Iris DeMent; new San Francisco singer/songwriter Brendan Benson (whose ONE MISSISSIPPI debut album is earning critical praise); The Presidents of the United States of America; and the surf band known as Los Straitjackets. (The scheduling for these acts follows.) Notably, Carl Perkins will be joining TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS onstage in their set on Saturday, January 25 and 26 and John Lee Hooker will do the same on February 6 and 7.
Instead of launching a full-scale concert tour, the group has decided to perform these special shows, which mark their first-ever concerts at the historic and intimate venue (whose capacity is 1250). Tickets for the first 10 concerts sold out immediately, with each additional date selling out as soon as it was put on sale.
The full listing of dates is:
January 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 31
February 1, 3, 4, 6, 7
These dates include the shows that were previously set to take place November 24-27–now happening February 3, 4, 6, 7–but had to be rescheduled due to an injury to PETTY‘s wrist, which doctors felt needed further time to heal after he attempted to rehearse in November.
TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS–MIKE CAMPBELL, guitars; BENMONT TENCH, keyboards; and HOWIE EPSTEIN, bass–are being joined by their longtime touring associate SCOTT THURSTON (guitars, harmonica) and drummer STEVE FERRONE, who toured with them on the “Wildflowers” 1995 trek and performed on PETTY‘s WILDFLOWERS album as well as the band’s SONGS AND MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE “SHE’S THE ONE.”
The inspiration for these shows? As PETTY told Joel Selvin in the San Francisco Chronicle on January 9: “I think it’s good for us mentally as a band to feel like we’re still a band. People shouldn’t come expecting us to play our biggest hits. That doesn’t mean we won’t. But they should expect to hear stuff they don’t know. We’ll be playing the catalog that never got played.” PETTY added: “I just want to play and get away from the land of videos and records for a while. We want to get back to what we understand. We’re musicians and it’s a life we understand. If we went out on an arena tour right now, I don’t think we’d be real inspired. We’re musicians and we want to play.”
Oh, yeah: the ticket scalpers aren’t too happy. As Wayne Saroyan noted in the Contra Costa Times: “Outside the sold-out auditorium, the usual phalanx of ticket scalpers were noticeably absent. In a radical and innovative last-minute trick to minimize scalping, ticket buyers were obliged to sign the backs of their ducats at purchase time and show confirming ID to get in the front door.”
TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS OPENING ACTS
JANUARY 10 THE WALLFLOWERS
JANUARY 11 THE WALLFLOWERS
JANUARY 12 LOS STRAITJACKETS
JANUARY 14 LOS STRAITJACKETS
JANUARY 15 PETE DROGE
JANUARY 16 PETE DROGE
JANUARY 19 PETE DROGE
JANUARY 20 PETE DROGE
JANUARY 21 BRENDAN BENSON
JANUARY 24 BRENDAN BENSON
JANUARY 25 FRANK BLACK
JANUARY 26 FRANK BLACK
JANUARY 28 FRANK BLACK
JANUARY 29 FRANK BLACK
JANUARY 31 ROGER MCGUINN
FEBRUARY 1 ROGER MCGUINN
FEBRUARY 3 IRIS DEMENT
FEBRUARY 4 IRIS DEMENT
FEBRUARY 6 THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FEBRUARY 7 THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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