By Mark Guarino Daily Herald Music Critic
Tom Petty proved what we should already know: Stadiums are for sports, not music.
After headlining the United Center in early December (capacity 23,000), he returned to town Sunday to play the same show for five sold-out nights at the Vic Theatre (capacity 1,300). In doing so, he showed 21,700 people do make the difference.
The quieter and more relaxed setting gave Petty a chance to revisit songs that would have been drowned out under a dome. Petty's classic rock past is certainly what made him a star, but starting in the mid-'90s, he began making albums that were less hit-conscious and that are some of his best. They may not have sold as many copies as in his years as a radio hitmaker, but they share the depth and introspection of a songwriter in his prime.
Petty devoted much of his two-hour, 45-minute set to these songs. They included rarely performed jewels from his last four albums: "Wildflowers" (Warner Bros.), his soundtrack to the film "She's the One," "Echo" and "The Last DJ." On songs such as the piano ballad "Crawling Back To You" -- and also the hushed and bittersweet "Wake Up Time," "Angel Dream (No. 4)" and "Blue Sunday" -- you could hear the subtlety of Petty's vocals and the light touches of his longtime versatile band, the Heartbreakers.
These were prized moments, especially considering that in a stadium, casual fans take this time to light up their cell phones, rush to the hot dog lines and start conversations with their friends in what became routine concert behavior in the arrogant '90s. Reselling the tickets after most of them ended up being scalped on eBay helped weed most of these people out.
Petty and the Heartbreakers are in town to tape an episode of the resurrected PBS live music show "Soundstage." After 28 years together, they're proving they're a great American rock band with a deep enough songbook to do a different show every night this week. They also take this residency as an opportunity to show how schooled they are in their American musical roots.
Although Sunday's show was capped front and back by familiar hits, the band stocked its 30-song setlist with covers that left no influence undone. They included a punk-driven version of The Animals' "I'm Crying," the Rolling Stones' early garage rock blues "Down Home Girl," Buddy Holly's signature "Peggy Sue," Chuck Berry rockabilly gem "Carol" and Ray Charles' "I Got A Woman," with Petty adding Elvis Presley's leg twitch and hubba-hubba inflection.
Petty also didn't ignore where he was. Classic post-WWII Chicago blues permeated the set including "Baby, Please Don't Go" by Muddy Waters and "Commit a Crime" by Howlin' Wolf.
At 52, Petty is at an age when most his peers have creatively peaked and are downshifting to take advantage of fan loyalty with through-the-roof ticket prices for nostalgia tours void of adventure but rich in formula. (Tickets for these shows are $49.50 compared to up to $350 for the Rolling Stones or Paul McCartney.)
After deciding in the mid-'90s to pursue songwriting that wouldn't bow to radio expectations (his latest album "The Last DJ" actually ridicules music industry greed), he is continuing a rich career whose legacy is still in the present, not past, tense.
Showing posts with label Vic Theatre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vic Theatre. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
Petty Offers Chestnuts, Rarities
BY JIM DEROGATIS Pop Music Critic
I'm gonna leave you and go on up to Chicago!" Tom Petty sang, reworking the lyrics to "Baby Please Don't Go" at the Vic Theatre on Sunday.
It was an appropriate choice for the first song in the first show of a sold-out five-night stand, and not just because Petty is playing Muddy Waters' adopted hometown.
The blues classic set the tone for an ambitious two-hour, 45-minute performance, laying out Petty's plan for this special extended stay at an intimate venue.
The Vic is the Heartbreakers' laboratory and woodshed. The goal: honing a set of the material they love to listen to on the tour bus, illustrating their roots in the sounds that preceded rock 'n' roll, with the possible plan of recording them live at Chess Studio.
There was a hint of grumbling from a few of the fans around me: In a 26-song set, Petty played only a handful of his greatest hits and concert standards. But after four decades on the road, he has certainly earned the right to indulge himself.
This was a rare opportunity to see one of the best arena acts in rock up close and personal, stretching out, jamming and taking chances that it could never take in the enormodomes. And the group delivered a truly unique experience.
Playing "name that tune" was a challenge to even the most ardent rock historians and dedicated Petty fanatics as the famously shaggy-haired, 49-year-old bandleader dug deep for obscure pre-rock nuggets and overlooked gems from his own catalog.
The most inspired cover choices included Alvin Robinson's "Down Home Girl" (which the Rolling Stones covered in 1965); JJ Cale's "I'd Like to Love You Baby"; the rampaging garage-rocker "I'm Crying" by the Animals; Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" (done in an unusual acoustic arrangement), and Chuck Berry's "Carol" (performed as a full-on rave-up that kicked off a three-song encore).
From his own trick bag, Petty pulled out "Angel Dream (No. 4)" from the "She's the One" soundtrack, the haunting "Blue Sunday" (one of the deeper tracks from "The Last DJ"), and the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care." There were also several "mystery selections" (I have no idea where "Black Leather Woman" came from, but it was a killer tune) and some impressive new songs, among them a lovely ballad titled "Melinda" that the Heartbreakers stretched into a full-blown acoustic jam.
After Bob Dylan's current touring ensemble, there is no more fluid, subtle, or impressive roots-rock band on the scene today. As they've been through much of his career, Petty's secret weapons were the amazingly versatile keyboardist Benmont Tench and longstanding lead guitarist Mike Campbell, who was as impressive firing off leads on his Les Paul during the louder numbers as he was while finger-picking an electric mandolin during the 12-song acoustic set.
This is not to slight the other Heartbreakers. Newcomer Scott Thurston is a sensitive third guitarist, expert at carving out unique spaces between Petty and Campbell as well as singing spot-on backing vocals and playing spirited harmonica. And the band's original bassist, Ron Blair (who replaced the late Howie Epstein), and drummer Steve Ferrone formed a truly impressive rhythm section that was able to stop and shift gears on a dime with one wave of Petty's arm.
The boss is clearly proud of this band, and he took an obvious joy in putting it through its paces onstage at the Vic in a radically different style and setting than the show he presented at the United Center in December.
Whether or not this was the show that Petty fans expected, they left having witnessed an inspired, energetic, revealing and consistently thrilling performance--a gift from one of rock's greats.
I'm gonna leave you and go on up to Chicago!" Tom Petty sang, reworking the lyrics to "Baby Please Don't Go" at the Vic Theatre on Sunday.
It was an appropriate choice for the first song in the first show of a sold-out five-night stand, and not just because Petty is playing Muddy Waters' adopted hometown.
The blues classic set the tone for an ambitious two-hour, 45-minute performance, laying out Petty's plan for this special extended stay at an intimate venue.
The Vic is the Heartbreakers' laboratory and woodshed. The goal: honing a set of the material they love to listen to on the tour bus, illustrating their roots in the sounds that preceded rock 'n' roll, with the possible plan of recording them live at Chess Studio.
There was a hint of grumbling from a few of the fans around me: In a 26-song set, Petty played only a handful of his greatest hits and concert standards. But after four decades on the road, he has certainly earned the right to indulge himself.
This was a rare opportunity to see one of the best arena acts in rock up close and personal, stretching out, jamming and taking chances that it could never take in the enormodomes. And the group delivered a truly unique experience.
Playing "name that tune" was a challenge to even the most ardent rock historians and dedicated Petty fanatics as the famously shaggy-haired, 49-year-old bandleader dug deep for obscure pre-rock nuggets and overlooked gems from his own catalog.
The most inspired cover choices included Alvin Robinson's "Down Home Girl" (which the Rolling Stones covered in 1965); JJ Cale's "I'd Like to Love You Baby"; the rampaging garage-rocker "I'm Crying" by the Animals; Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" (done in an unusual acoustic arrangement), and Chuck Berry's "Carol" (performed as a full-on rave-up that kicked off a three-song encore).
From his own trick bag, Petty pulled out "Angel Dream (No. 4)" from the "She's the One" soundtrack, the haunting "Blue Sunday" (one of the deeper tracks from "The Last DJ"), and the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care." There were also several "mystery selections" (I have no idea where "Black Leather Woman" came from, but it was a killer tune) and some impressive new songs, among them a lovely ballad titled "Melinda" that the Heartbreakers stretched into a full-blown acoustic jam.
After Bob Dylan's current touring ensemble, there is no more fluid, subtle, or impressive roots-rock band on the scene today. As they've been through much of his career, Petty's secret weapons were the amazingly versatile keyboardist Benmont Tench and longstanding lead guitarist Mike Campbell, who was as impressive firing off leads on his Les Paul during the louder numbers as he was while finger-picking an electric mandolin during the 12-song acoustic set.
This is not to slight the other Heartbreakers. Newcomer Scott Thurston is a sensitive third guitarist, expert at carving out unique spaces between Petty and Campbell as well as singing spot-on backing vocals and playing spirited harmonica. And the band's original bassist, Ron Blair (who replaced the late Howie Epstein), and drummer Steve Ferrone formed a truly impressive rhythm section that was able to stop and shift gears on a dime with one wave of Petty's arm.
The boss is clearly proud of this band, and he took an obvious joy in putting it through its paces onstage at the Vic in a radically different style and setting than the show he presented at the United Center in December.
Whether or not this was the show that Petty fans expected, they left having witnessed an inspired, energetic, revealing and consistently thrilling performance--a gift from one of rock's greats.
Monday, April 14, 2003
Petty and Co. mine their past, hint at future
By Greg Kot
Professor Tom Petty staged a rock 'n' roll history class Sunday as he and his longtime band, the Heartbreakers, opened a five-night stand at the Vic Theatre.
Petty dipped into his back catalogue and gave a glimpse of his future with at least one newly written tune, but he devoted much of the performance to his influences, shading particularly hard toward the Chicago blues. With tickets at $50.50—well below the price commanded by Petty's peers for less-cozy arena and stadium shows—the singer has turned his sold-out residency into an event that is not only musically bold but financially reasonable. A line of ticketholders snaked south on Sheffield Avenue outside the Vic on Sunday five hours before show time. Once inside, they got more than 30 songs spread over 2 = hours, including a number of tunes Petty has rarely performed in his tours.
Petty comes to Chicago packing a great band in top form. In the late '90s, the Heartbreakers nearly fractured with bassist Howie Epstein in the throes of a drug addiction that eventually killed him. But a reunion with original Heartbreakers bassist Ron Blair for last year's arena tour has solidified the back line, anchored by drummer Steve Ferrone. Multi-instrumentalist Scott Thurston, keyboard guru Benmont Tench and man-of-many-guitars Mike Campbell give Petty a versatility that few mainstream bands possess, a combination of sensitivity and sock that was exploited fully on opening night, in electric and acoustic sets.
Unlike Petty's recent arena tour, which played the United Center on Dec. 11, this run isn't about promoting a particular album. The focus last time was on "The Last DJ," an ambitious album about the collision between innocence and greed, rock 'n' roll and corporate America, a boy named Johnny and a CEO named Joe. This time, the emphasis was on career-spanning kicks, with obscurities exhumed, familiar tunes expanded or stretched, and covers aplenty.
Petty hopped aboard Muddy Waters' "Baby Please Don't Go" and rode that train out of the station at the concert's outset, with Thurston on harmonica. The opening electric set shuffled classic Petty (a spiraling guitar workout on "Mary Jane's Last Dance," "Strangered in the Night," an extended call-and-response on "You Don't Know How it Feels"), rarely performed Petty (a melancholy "Crawling Back to You" from the underappreciated "Wildflowers" album), a nod to his old Traveling Wilburys chums ("Handle with Care," with Thurston gamely channeling the otherworldly tenor vocals of the late Roy Orbison) and a batch of covers that included J.J. Cale, the mid-'60s Rolling Stones blues "Down Home Girl," and the Animals' "I'm Crying," with Tench ramping up Alan Price's wicked Farfisa organ riff.
The second set focused on quieter but no less intense acoustic material, with Campbell on electric mandolin. Petty chose well from his "She's the One" soundtrack, culling the lovely "Walls" and the fragile hymn "Angel Dream (No. 2)," and sprinkled in more blues, Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" (via Elvis Presley's hip-twitching rockabilly version) and Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue." His own road ballad "Blue Sunday" was followed by an even more contemplative as-yet-unreleased original, "Melinda," with Tench's cascading piano shading it in melancholy.
Just when things couldn't have gotten any quieter, Petty, Campbell and Thurston strapped on the electric guitars for a pair of epic jams that evoked the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, particularly during the coda to "Lost Children."
It capped what was easily Petty's most adventurous set of music on a Chicago stage in more than a decade. If some of the crowd was restless for more familiar material, Petty delivered during the encore, following Chuck Berry's "Carol" with his own house-rocking reliables "You Wreck Me" and "Runnin' Down a Dream." But this night, and most likely this week, of Petty music isn't about the hits. It's about Petty and the Heartbreakers taking their time, digging deep and mining their pasts as musical appreciators for inspiration. It's a rare opportunity to see Petty not just as a star, which he is, but as a musician and a fan. No doubt, next time through town Petty will be playing the big arenas once again, and working through his crowd-pleasers. But this week, his roots are showing, and it's a fascinating glimpse into the mind, soul and inspiration of one of the rock 'n' roll greats.
Professor Tom Petty staged a rock 'n' roll history class Sunday as he and his longtime band, the Heartbreakers, opened a five-night stand at the Vic Theatre.
Petty dipped into his back catalogue and gave a glimpse of his future with at least one newly written tune, but he devoted much of the performance to his influences, shading particularly hard toward the Chicago blues. With tickets at $50.50—well below the price commanded by Petty's peers for less-cozy arena and stadium shows—the singer has turned his sold-out residency into an event that is not only musically bold but financially reasonable. A line of ticketholders snaked south on Sheffield Avenue outside the Vic on Sunday five hours before show time. Once inside, they got more than 30 songs spread over 2 = hours, including a number of tunes Petty has rarely performed in his tours.
Petty comes to Chicago packing a great band in top form. In the late '90s, the Heartbreakers nearly fractured with bassist Howie Epstein in the throes of a drug addiction that eventually killed him. But a reunion with original Heartbreakers bassist Ron Blair for last year's arena tour has solidified the back line, anchored by drummer Steve Ferrone. Multi-instrumentalist Scott Thurston, keyboard guru Benmont Tench and man-of-many-guitars Mike Campbell give Petty a versatility that few mainstream bands possess, a combination of sensitivity and sock that was exploited fully on opening night, in electric and acoustic sets.
Unlike Petty's recent arena tour, which played the United Center on Dec. 11, this run isn't about promoting a particular album. The focus last time was on "The Last DJ," an ambitious album about the collision between innocence and greed, rock 'n' roll and corporate America, a boy named Johnny and a CEO named Joe. This time, the emphasis was on career-spanning kicks, with obscurities exhumed, familiar tunes expanded or stretched, and covers aplenty.
Petty hopped aboard Muddy Waters' "Baby Please Don't Go" and rode that train out of the station at the concert's outset, with Thurston on harmonica. The opening electric set shuffled classic Petty (a spiraling guitar workout on "Mary Jane's Last Dance," "Strangered in the Night," an extended call-and-response on "You Don't Know How it Feels"), rarely performed Petty (a melancholy "Crawling Back to You" from the underappreciated "Wildflowers" album), a nod to his old Traveling Wilburys chums ("Handle with Care," with Thurston gamely channeling the otherworldly tenor vocals of the late Roy Orbison) and a batch of covers that included J.J. Cale, the mid-'60s Rolling Stones blues "Down Home Girl," and the Animals' "I'm Crying," with Tench ramping up Alan Price's wicked Farfisa organ riff.
The second set focused on quieter but no less intense acoustic material, with Campbell on electric mandolin. Petty chose well from his "She's the One" soundtrack, culling the lovely "Walls" and the fragile hymn "Angel Dream (No. 2)," and sprinkled in more blues, Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" (via Elvis Presley's hip-twitching rockabilly version) and Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue." His own road ballad "Blue Sunday" was followed by an even more contemplative as-yet-unreleased original, "Melinda," with Tench's cascading piano shading it in melancholy.
Just when things couldn't have gotten any quieter, Petty, Campbell and Thurston strapped on the electric guitars for a pair of epic jams that evoked the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, particularly during the coda to "Lost Children."
It capped what was easily Petty's most adventurous set of music on a Chicago stage in more than a decade. If some of the crowd was restless for more familiar material, Petty delivered during the encore, following Chuck Berry's "Carol" with his own house-rocking reliables "You Wreck Me" and "Runnin' Down a Dream." But this night, and most likely this week, of Petty music isn't about the hits. It's about Petty and the Heartbreakers taking their time, digging deep and mining their pasts as musical appreciators for inspiration. It's a rare opportunity to see Petty not just as a star, which he is, but as a musician and a fan. No doubt, next time through town Petty will be playing the big arenas once again, and working through his crowd-pleasers. But this week, his roots are showing, and it's a fascinating glimpse into the mind, soul and inspiration of one of the rock 'n' roll greats.
Saturday, April 12, 2003
Live on WXRT
For those in Chicago, you can hear the show live on the radio! I'm looking for an online audio feed, but no luck so far. If anyone knows of one, please let me know! All my searches have come up with Nada! TOM PETTY'S OPENING NIGHT SPECIAL: LIVE IN CHICAGO
Sunday, April 13th - 9pm-10pm A live excerpt of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' opening night performance at the Vic Theatre, followed by Terri Hemmert's extended conversation with Tom Petty, recorded in December during his previous visit to Chicago for an XRT Show at the United Center.
Petty-CastsMonday, Wednesday, Thursday, April 14th - 17th - approximately 9pm-9:15pm Live excerpts of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' performances in XRT Shows at the Vic Theatre.
XRT Petty Concert ExclusiveSaturday, April 19th - 8:30pm-11pm The culmination of Tom Petty-Mania!! A live broadcast of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' fifth and final sold-out XRT Show at the Vic Theatre.
Interview with TP
Tom Petty starts in Segment 2!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
