OC Register review of Hollywood show
 

If this is goodbye, it was a great one

Review: Tom Petty goes out in style on his last tour for a while – with help from his friends.

By BEN WENER

The Orange County Register
Rarely do rock stars mean it when they announce that their road-warrior ways have reached the end of the line. So it is that there are conflicting reports as to whether Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' current outing, a cameo-filled 30th anniversary celebration that wowed Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl, will indeed be their last.

In April, Petty had this to say to Rolling Stone: "I think we should do this tour and then put an end to doing national tours, and just play now and then where we want to play. The idea of doing sheds or arenas … you turn into an animal by the time it's done."

Three months later, however, he refined that statement in an interview with USA Today.

"There's a rumor that I'm not going to tour anymore," he said. "I don't think that's true, but I'd like to take a long break. … I love playing, but it eats up so much of your life. I'm really conscious of wasting time. I'm impatient now with anything that gets in the way of what I want to do."

Spoken like a true 55-year-old who wants off the treadmill – and who can blame him? Petty has toured behind virtually all of his 14 albums, and sometimes even when all he had to promote was his Hall of Fame band's reputation as rock 'n' rollers of the highest order.

That grind can wear a guy out, and strong as he's been live lately, fatigue has been evident. It also could explain why the four-year gap between his cranky previous album ("The Last DJ") and his serene new one ("Highway Companion") is the longest in his career.

Whichever it is, though – final bow or just another hometown stand – Petty and the unerring Heartbreakers certainly treated this Bowl performance as if it were a last hurrah.

Never mind the superb playing, guitarist Mike Campbell and keysman Benmont Tench models of brilliant but understated shading. Never mind how much of the set was given to one hit after another. Note the rapid-fire succession of favorites used as an opening here, with "Listen to Her Heart" and a robust "Mary Jane's Last Dance" leading to "I Won't Back Down" and a soaring "Free Fallin.' "

Never mind the straightforward classicism of Petty's new numbers – the snarling groover "Saving Grace," the gentle "Down South" – or the stately arrangements given to some staples. The sparseness of his acoustic rendition of "Learning to Fly," for instance, brings out the profoundness in its simple, homiletic lyrics.

And never mind the rousing overtures to the Heartbreakers' fundamentals – killer covers of Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man" and Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" and a spookily intensified reading of Them's "Mystic Eyes," which split up terrific takes on "You Wreck Me" and "American Girl" during the encore. Those great bits are entirely in keeping with both Petty's past (he has sprinkled his sets with remakes for years) and this career-surveying tour that's being documented by director Peter Bogdanovich.

All of that was magnificent. But what really made this sold-out show memorable were the guest appearances.

Stevie Nicks turning up for a handful of songs was a not-so-secret surprise – she's been doing so all tour. Yet the rarity of hearing the gypsy queen and Petty trade verses and harmonize on "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" and "Insider" made those moments even more exceptional – and more like a farewell tribute.

To have a radiant Nicks stick around to sneer out lines on the punkish "I Need to Know" and add her "hey!" to "Don't Come Around Here No More" was merely a bonus. But to have E.L.O. main man and Petty's longtime producer Jeff Lynne peek out of his studio hermitage to handle the Roy Orbison parts on the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care" – see, that's one of those things that will keep people talking about this gig for years.

That was also one more element – like the Bowl itself or the tour being nearly over – that brought out the best in Petty and the Heartbreakers. Should this really be their last local appearance – and somehow I doubt it will be – then at least they went out smashingly. In any case, it's one to savor if you were there. We aren't likely to get a replay anytime soon.

One more detail making this tour special: the opening acts. Other stops have seen sets from acts as titanic as Pearl Jam and as hotly rising as John Mayer. We got the Strokes, roaring through nearly a dozen songs in 45 minutes to remind that they are among the strongest new groups this decade.

They have a unique chemistry, anchored by the steady rhythms of drummer Fabrizio Moretti and bassist Nikolai Fraiture, made richly ragged by droopy-eyed Julian Casablancas' laconic drawls and hoarse cries, and cast afloat by the interplay of guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. That this mix keeps churning out a barrage of minor but enticing variations is becoming a small marvel.

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