RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

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Swamp
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Re: Tom Petty

Post by Swamp »

36 years ago tonight we saw Tom Petty for the first time. I couldn't even tell you who the opening act was as we were eating qualudes that night.
When Petty first came out, I mean got popular, I wasn't sure about him cause he was labeled "new wave". I knew I didn't like punk as they were nazi skinhead racist and I didn't want any part of that bs. I had had enough problems with nazis in jr high.
But what was this "new wave"? The Cars were new wave and I liked them. The more I heard "Damn the Torpedos" on the radio the more I liked it. It was regular r&r to me. Why did he get this label?
Petty was one of the few acts I followed through out the 80's
In 1989 we took our 7 year old son to see him. Unfortanatly the opening act was the Replacements. Petty kicked them off the tour a couple of nights later. It was also the first time I realized how much some people hated the battle flag as the guy standing next to me went on and on to his buddy how terrible the Pack up the Plantation tour had been cause one of the back drops was the battle flag. Lynyrd Skynyrd anybody? I had the video from the Pack up the Plantation tour and I loved it. My son and I had made our own video of Rebel panning to the video on the tv while we changed costumes. If I ever find it I'll post it, if you can get past the flag. On a side note my son has always shyed away from that flag. Not because of the hate implications but because he didn't want to be labeled a redneck. Unfortanatly for him his mother got in a fight at a major sporting event making him a redneck!
Full Moon Fever was one of the disc I would load into the 6 disker for the many football road trips my son and I took in the 90's.
Highway Companion joined that group in the 2nd half of the 00's. I miss our road trips but I'll miss Tom Petty more.
RIP Tom Petty.
and the rest as they say is uh er uh, well somebodies history somewhere?

chuckrh
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by chuckrh »

picture of me & Tom circa Full Moon Fever. RIP.
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John A Arkansawyer
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Re: Tom Petty

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

Swamp wrote:Full Moon Fever was one of the disc I would load into the 6 disker for the many football road trips my son and I took in the 90's.
Highway Companion joined that group in the 2nd half of the 00's. I miss our road trips but I'll miss Tom Petty more.
RIP Tom Petty.
Did Anyone Make Better Driving Music Than Tom Petty?

You know the answer.

If you scroll down, the next story has some fan footage from what turned out to be his last public performance.
The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be

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rlipps
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by rlipps »

Fan video of Tom's last performance, the final 2 songs from last week's Hollywood Bowl shows


Iowan
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by Iowan »

I got to see the boys open for Petty on my 25th birthday in Omaha. I'm just feeling really grateful for that experience today. Both bands fucking killed it, of course.

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rlipps
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by rlipps »

Iowan wrote:I got to see the boys open for Petty on my 25th birthday in Omaha. I'm just feeling really grateful for that experience today. Both bands fucking killed it, of course.
Saw the same tour at Riverbend in Cincy, had always dreamed of my 2 favorite bands sharing a bill, and it came true that night. Such a wonderful night of music, so glad I got to see it, just bummed I didn't catch Petty's last tour in either Cincy or Nashville.

Gaetzi
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by Gaetzi »

Rock and Roll didn't get much better than Tom Petty. The guy wrote so many great songs. Obviously I didn't know him but he came across as humble, appreciative and just generally happy/thankful to be able to be the guy he was. Every time I saw him I left w the same thought "I forgot how many amazing songs this SOB has written" -You'd go to the show with this list of songs you were hoping to hear, you'd get 2-3 but every song he played was a classic. And his band? Consummate professionals. Mike Campbell is a legendary guitar player. Both Stan Lynch and Steve Ferrone are such solid, in the pocket drummers. Of the Charlie Watts vein- rock solid without a lot of flash. I don't know if "underrated" is the right word but it was more like I took him for granted. He was just always there. It's not like I didn't appreciate him and his songs but it wasn't too often I'd play a Petty album (even though I own most of them and know them all front to back). But every time one of his songs came on the radio you know I'd crank it up. I listened to close to 4 hours of Petty last night and could have kept going.

On a strange note, the last time I saw Tom Petty was at Red Rocks, 10/2/14, three years to the day. It was like 40 degrees and rainy, TP was wearings Uggs. But he put on one hell of a show. And he played Little Feat's Willin'- Anyone that covers that song immediately earns my respect. A sad day for rock and roll but at least all that great music will outlive any of us. RIP Tom.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro

Will
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by Will »

Something I realized at the Atlanta show this summer: there's no way to time a beer/bathroom break at a Tom Petty show without missing a good song. I was standing in line for beer refills and couldn't quite make out what I was missing. I got back and asked my wife what song it was.

"That one about walls falling down."
"Fuck!"

The show was great, of course. Just great song after great song, performed by guys who are some of the best the world has ever seen at what they do. We saw the Mudcrutch tour last year too. Just pure joy on stage the whole night, with Tom leading the way in bluesy hippie rocker mode. I just finished reading Warren Zanes' biography, which is a total blast and me appreciate what Tom did for 40+ years all over again. We won't see his kind again.

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Cubfan06
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by Cubfan06 »

Gaetzi wrote:Rock and Roll didn't get much better than Tom Petty. The guy wrote so many great songs. Obviously I didn't know him but he came across as humble, appreciative and just generally happy/thankful to be able to be the guy he was. Every time I saw him I left w the same thought "I forgot how many amazing songs this SOB has written" -You'd go to the show with this list of songs you were hoping to hear, you'd get 2-3 but every song he played was a classic. And his band? Consummate professionals. Mike Campbell is a legendary guitar player. Both Stan Lynch and Steve Ferrone are such solid, in the pocket drummers. Of the Charlie Watts vein- rock solid without a lot of flash. I don't know if "underrated" is the right word but it was more like I took him for granted. He was just always there. It's not like I didn't appreciate him and his songs but it wasn't too often I'd play a Petty album (even though I own most of them and know them all front to back). But every time one of his songs came on the radio you know I'd crank it up. I listened to close to 4 hours of Petty last night and could have kept going.

On a strange note, the last time I saw Tom Petty was at Red Rocks, 10/2/14, three years to the day. It was like 40 degrees and rainy, TP was wearings Uggs. But he put on one hell of a show. And he played Little Feat's Willin'- Anyone that covers that song immediately earns my respect. A sad day for rock and roll but at least all that great music will outlive any of us. RIP Tom.
Great eulogy.
BTW...I was checking off my Red Rocks bucket list that night as well. It was very late in the concert season. Steve Winwood played an amazing opening set, but Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers found a way to play a couple notches better. Between both bands, that Willin' cover, the edibles, and the perfectly imperfect weather it was a magical night that I'll never forget.
I believe it was 10/3/14. And here is some video of that show below in case you want to relive a couple more memories.



Markalanbishop
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by Markalanbishop »

As many of you have noted, this one hurts. It feels much more personal to me. Like Swamp, I grew up in Florida about 2 hours from Gainesville and then college at Tallahassee which is also close to Gainesville. Mudcrutch was one of the hot local bands and there was a lot of buzz about them. Alas, I never saw that iteration. Petty's 2 years older than me and I deeply empathized with his desire to get the fuck out of North Central Florida, which at the time was a cesspool of racism and bigotry (excluding the college towns to some extent where at least you could find some of your tribe). I bailed in '75. In spite of all of Petty's troubles with bad contracts, drugs, family issues, etc., he kept his eye on the prize. Music was his salvation, and apart from my family it's about the only thing that brings me joy in this fucked up world and country we live in. Rock on, motherfuckers, and love each other.
Kick out the jams motherfuckers.

Gaetzi
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by Gaetzi »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJv2dOW ... ifoyadQN94

Here's Tom Petty playing Winterland 12/30/78, the night before the GD closed Winterland down for good.
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Iowan
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by Iowan »

It makes me feel good knowing "American Girl" was the last song he ever played.

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whatwouldcooleydo?
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by whatwouldcooleydo? »

this was more fun than humans should be allowed, even knowing in retrospect that Jerry was on thin ice. The heat and enormodome venues didn't help matters either. Nonetheless, there were worse places to be in the summer of 86

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whatwouldcooleydo?
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by whatwouldcooleydo? »

Tom Petty Was Rock ’n’ Roll’s Ambassador to the World

this is a really good read

Out of many remarks that hit the bullseye, this one really stood out to me:

Tom Petty showed us that rock ’n’ roll is a thing of infinite possibilities. Two guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards: However limited it looks on paper, in practice it’s an almost sculptural medium, stunning in its plasticity, something that can always be given a new shape. But just because rock ’n’ roll is infinite in its possibilities didn’t mean it would go forever. And it didn’t, really. But perhaps no one more than Tom Petty lived it to the end with such joy, such commitment to seeing this form take new forms. No one, I came to believe, was less ready to see rock ’n’ roll lose its central place in American popular music.
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whatwouldcooleydo?
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by whatwouldcooleydo? »

one cool motherfucker

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whatwouldcooleydo?
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by whatwouldcooleydo? »

so much awesomeness in one photo

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whatwouldcooleydo?
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Re: Tom Petty

Post by whatwouldcooleydo? »

Swamp wrote: I had the video from the Pack up the Plantation tour and I loved it.
I would go crazy when MTV would show Rebels and Needles in Pins from PUTP, so damn awesome
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Clams
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by Clams »

I don't get XM but a friend texted me and said Patterson was interviewed on Petty's XM channel this afternoon. Said the truckers are working up a cover of The Waiting. I wonder if that'll be Cooley or Patterson on vocals.
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WarHenRecords
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by WarHenRecords »

So incredibly sad.
Cried in the car today while the radio did a tribute.
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John A Arkansawyer
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

Click it if, like me, it's not all there.

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Swamp
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Re: Tom Petty

Post by Swamp »

whatwouldcooleydo? wrote:
Swamp wrote: I had the video from the Pack up the Plantation tour and I loved it.
I would go crazy when MTV would show Rebels and Needles in Pins from PUTP, so damn awesome
SPIKE!Love the version on PUTP
But this is the one that hooked me for life
"There's a southern accent, where I come from
The young'uns call it country, the yankees call it dumb
I got my own way of talking, but everything gets done
With a southern accent, where I come from"
and the rest as they say is uh er uh, well somebodies history somewhere?

Gaetzi
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by Gaetzi »

http://www.panicstream.net/vault/tom-pe ... ncisco-ca/

You're welcome- Live at the Fillmore West, San Francisco, California, February 7, 1997. The last night of a sold out 20 night stand. Killer SBD recording
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Tequila Cowboy
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

Gaetzi wrote:http://www.panicstream.net/vault/tom-pe ... ncisco-ca/

You're welcome- Live at the Fillmore West, San Francisco, California, February 7, 1997. The last night of a sold out 20 night stand. Killer SBD recording
Thanks for sharing. One of my oldest and dearest friends had just finalized his divorce and went out to SF for these. He attended 10 of the 20.
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Gaetzi
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by Gaetzi »

I can't stop listening to Tom Petty. Going on day 4 of with no signs of the binge letting up.
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Rocky
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

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Image

From the last set of shows at The Hollywood Bowl.
By the time you drop them I'll be gone
And you'll be right where they fall the rest of your life

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Rocky
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by Rocky »

https://www.stereogum.com/1965601/74-ar ... ist/?amp=1

PATTERSON HOOD (DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS)

Picking a favorite Tom Petty song is daunting as I have so many. My top five is particularly tight, but my favorite is “Something Big.” It’s got everything a great Petty song tends to have. It’s mysterious without being vague. A top shelf story song without the story. Kinda Raymond Carveresque with its details and blank spaces. A great hook and catchy chorus (but not a hit) sung with the drollest of delivery. Driven home by one of the greatest bands ever formed playing at the top of their game.
By the time you drop them I'll be gone
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whatwouldcooleydo?
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by whatwouldcooleydo? »

Bill and I were texting about artists we'd seen live in 4 different decades, with TP being common to both our lists. Others on my list were the Stones, the Who, all GD members minus Jerry, Richard Thompson, and Elvis Costello. I missed both REM and Allman Brothers making the list by just one year. Neil almost made the list as well.
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whatwouldcooleydo?
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by whatwouldcooleydo? »

Gaetzi wrote:http://www.panicstream.net/vault/tom-pe ... ncisco-ca/

You're welcome- Live at the Fillmore West, San Francisco, California, February 7, 1997. The last night of a sold out 20 night stand. Killer SBD recording
Seeing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers three times at the Fillmore (just the Fillmore, the Fillmore West was another completely different site) in 1999 remains a true highwater mark of my live music career. Amazing shows, deep setlists, and first time hearing the Echo material (this was about a month before the album came out).
Son, this ain't a dream no more, it's the real thing

chuckrh
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by chuckrh »

From Patterson on the Bitter Southerner. Thank you Patterson

http://bittersoutherner.com/from-the-so ... erson-hood

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dime in the gutter
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Re: RIP Tom Petty 1950-2017

Post by dime in the gutter »

well, that's an outstanding fucking read.

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