Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers!!

If you have a magnifying glass handy you can see Stevie Nicks on the stage next to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. (Yes the cardboard camera stikes again) http://www.tompetty.com/ Stevie has signed up to perform on the first eight shows with Tom on this tour. She sang on several songs, two of which Tom said they had not performed together in twenty years. "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" was awesome. Stevie still looks like she is 30 years old. If my "Rumours" album didn't have a date on it I would swear time has stood still. Yes I did have my Leica binoculars with me and I can see a gnats ass at 50 yards with those.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers left a mark on Charlotte. I have now seen them four times. I knew they were great but there was something really special about this show... maybe it was the fact that Tom said this band has now been together for thirty years and this could be the last concert tour of the big sheds. He told a reporter recently that "these shed shows can turn you into an animal by the time you are through" I can understand that. He said they would play some shows in the future but they would just be select venues over time.

Tom has so many talented guys in his band. They are all stand-out musicians. They have a guitar collection that must take a truck to haul. Mike and Tom changed guitars literally every song. Some of these axes were custom Rickenbackers and Fenders that are just awesome looking. The lighting was awesome. The hit songs just never stopped. The tempo of the show would blow your mind. The crowd never sat down. The crowd noise was ear-shattering. I left my earplugs at home unfortunately and I paid the ear-ringing price for 24 hours. As they say, no pain, no gain. Disclaimer: If you are reading this use your hearing protection! Anything sustained over 85 dbs will mess up your hearing!

The band even played some awesome blues covers. Nothing I like better than a great band who can make a song their own. They rocked and they rocked and they rocked.

I have several comments about this show. I paid less for these tickets than any amplitheatre show in the last eighteen months. Tom has a fan club that you can join and he reserves tickets for 1,500 of his fans right down front. As I looked around I didn't see anyone who looked like they got their tickets from the local corporate scene. You know the type, the ones who look like they really don't fit in at a concert. In most venues they are the ones in the front rows while the real fans of the artist fight for a seat in the rear or on the lawn at over-inflated prices. Many times these corporate clones leave by the middle of the show. I really like this fan club pre-sale approach to ticket sales. It is so awesome to be down front with the real fans singing on key to all the songs. What a night. The best music value in years. Thanks Tom Petty.