Show: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
Date: June 11, 2013
Venue: Fonda Theatre
City: Los Angeles, CA
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
Photos by Nicolas Bates
Written by Dan Sinclair
Tonight’s packed house waits in eager anticipation to see the sixth and final night of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers playing the “small stage” here at Hollywood’s Fonda Theatre. Security is extra tight tonight as the last show was shut down early due to overcapacity on the floor. The Fonda’s finest are checking tickets and making sure to keep the people in the right places so tonight’s show can go the distance. The paparazzi are also here, snapping pictures out front, but the only “celebrity” in attendance I noticed was one of their own—TMZ’s Charles Latibeaudiere.
Tonight’s crowd ranges in all ages, sizes, shapes, but they do share one thing in common—they’re all really, really drunk. By the way, can we please outlaw whistling at concerts? Some idiot kept doing it, damn near blowing my eardrums before the band even picked up an instrument.
But it isn’t long before Mr. Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers do finally pick up their instruments, giving the loud, obnoxious crowd reason to cheer loudly for a solid few minutes before going right into their first song of the night, a cover of The Byrds classic “So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star.”
You wouldn’t know these men are all in their sixties by their high energy and powerful stage presence. From Tom himself to Mike Campbell on the lead guitar to piano man Benmont Tech III, the legends keep rocking as hard as they did back when the band started back in 1976. The song finishes big with a clean, crisp solo from Campbell and the crowd applauds enthusiastically for several moments. And just as it starts to die down, Tom puts his hands over his head, encouraging for the clapping to continue. The fans oblige and the Heartbreakers go into “Love Is a Long Road.”
After the song Tom thanks the crowd and explains that they are going to really explore their catalogue tonight, playing songs that they don’t usually play live, including B-sides and covers. He advises some of the parents in the audience that they may have to “Pay the babysitter a little more tonight.” But before the catalogue exploration begins, he gives the crowd one they all recognize in the 1978 single “Listen to Her Heart.”
After that they cover Big Joe Williams’ legendary blues track “Baby Please Don’t Go.” Some other cover songs they played over the course of the night were Paul Revere and the Raiders’ “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone,” JJ Cale’s “I’d Like to Love You, Baby,” Conway Twitty’s “Image of Me,” and “Willin’” by Little Feat. Before the Twitty song, Tom tried to tell a story about touring around Florida back in the ‘70s and how much he liked the old country western music he would hear. Unfortunately, the drunks thought this to be a great time to start shouting out requests and their professions of love for the band. Tom replies, “I love you, too, but I’m trying to tell a story.” He then went on to add that today’s country just isn’t the same and that it’s more like “Watered-down rock music with a fiddle.” Seems like everyone agreed with him.
Oh, and they really did explore the entire catalogue throughout the night. They played “Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)” off their first record and “The Best of Everything” as well as “Rebels” off of 1985’s Southern Accents. Though they didn’t play “Into the Great Wide Open,” they did play “Kings Highway” and “Two Gunslingers” off the album of the same name. They also played “Time to Move On,” “Melinda” and “I Should Have Known It.”
It wasn’t until the very end of the set that they launched into the hits with “Refugee” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream” back to back, and nearly brought down the house. They took a short break before coming out to play the two-song encore of “You Wreck Me” and the one that will forever remind me of The Silence of the Lambs in “American Girl.” If there was anyone that wasn’t singing along as loud as they could, it was only because they passed out.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers expressed their thanks for the crowd’s participation in the evening’s events, taking a long time to all walk to the front of the stage, blow kisses, wave and pose for pictures. Six shows on the small stage came to an end and everyone in attendance will be forever grateful for the little piece of history they shared together here in Los Angeles, knowing this opportunity may never happen again. Go ahead… be jealous.