Sweet Steph sent this to us:
Let me begin by just saying how awesome being backstage was. The show is completely different from back there. I can't thank BPD enough.Join BackstagePassDirect today and experience what so many other satisfied members like Sweet Steph experience.
Everybody from Tom himself to Mike Campbell to Benmont Tench to the crew were all super friendly. If that wasn't enough, there was the added bonus of meeting rock icon Steve Winwood who was opening the show. Ohmigod!!!
Early on in the gig, Tom uttered words rarely heard at his shows: “You probably don’t know this next one.” The band then launched into the super obscure 1999 Europe-only B side “Sweet William.” The bluesy, organ-heavy number was a clear indication this wasn’t going to be the typical nothing-but-the-hits Petty show he’s done on recent tours. With no new album to support, Petty was free to drag out the gems.
This doesn’t mean he avoided his massive arsenal of hits. The show began with a 1-2-3-4-5 punch of “You Wreck Me,” “Last Dance With Mary Jane,” “I Won’t Back Down,” “Even The Losers” and “Free Fallin’.” Nearly anyone else would save a song like the latter — which is so tailor made for arenas even the beer guys and ushers were singing along — but Petty has such a huge stable of war horses he could bust it out early with no problem. Rarities soon followed, such as the Traveling Wilburys’ “End of the Line,” which featured a few Heartbreakers subbing in for Petty’s absent bandmates and the Full Moon Fever track “A Face in the Crowd.”
The Heartbreakers are one of the greatest backing bands out there. Any song is immeasurably enhanced by their playing, particularly from Mike on guitar and Benmont on keyboards. It’s no wonder they get so much session work when Petty is off the road.
The night wrapped up with the hit parade of “Learning to Fly,” “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” “Refugee” and the inevitable encore of “American Girl.” He’s probably played that song at every concert for over 30 years, but he still does it with intense passion and it still can make an arena full of drunk middle-aged white people jump up and down like nothing short of “Born to Run.”
Petty still insists that the days of long tours are coming to an end. This is a song he's also been playing for quite some time now; we'll see.
Here's the entire set list:Encore:
- “You Wreck Me”
- “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”
- “I Won’t Back Down”
- “Even the Losers”
- “Free Falling”
- “Cabin Down Below”
- “Sweet William”
- “End of the Line”
- “Can’t Find My Way Home”
- “Gimme Some Loving”
- “Saving Grace”
- “Face in the Crowd”
- “Honey Bee”
- “You Don’t Know How It Feels”
- “Learning to Fly”
- “Don’t Come Around Here No More”
- “Refugee”
- “Runnin’ Down a Dream”
- “Mystic Eyes”
- “American Girl”
