Tom Petty's Summer Tour His Last?

[TimmyB]

I hope this will not be the last tour for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

If so I'll have to see a few more Heartbreakers gig than I expected this summer. First up will be bonnaroo and then hopefully at least a Toronto gig, if Petty decides to play here for the first time in seven plus years, but I might have to go to a few more as well?

Tim

From www.rollingstone.com

Tom Petty's Summer Tour His Last?

The Heartbreakers turn thirty with a blowout tour, movie In 1976, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their debut album, and this summer Petty plans to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary in grand style. He and the Heartbreakers will hit the road in June on a tour that Petty says might be the band's last major summer outing; there's an ambitious documentary in the works; and Petty is finishing Highway Companion, a solo album tentatively due on Rick Rubin's American Recordings label this summer.

"It's a quieter album than I've done before," Petty says, sitting behind the sound desk in his home studio in Malibu. "I don't think I wasted any lines on this album. I think the songs are all there."

Petty exudes genuine pride as he debuts for Rolling Stone nine of the songs slated for Highway Companion, including "Square One" and "Turn This Car Around." He began recording the album last year with Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and fellow Traveling Wilbury Jeff Lynne. Each contributes guitar parts, Lynne plays keys and a Hofner bass, Campbell plays a hefty amount of slide guitar ("He's never been better," says Petty) and, for the first time on record, Petty plays drums. Though they all but finished recording in February, Petty says, "The only thing keeping me from wrapping things up is just going, 'Well, I wonder if there's one more in me?'"

Petty plans to incorporate some of these songs into the Heartbreakers tour this summer, which will kick off in June with openers including Pearl Jam, John Mayer, Trey Anastasio and, Petty hopes, the Strokes and the Allman Brothers Band. "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," he says. "The idea of doing sheds or arenas . . . you turn into an animal by the time it's done."

Also, filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, Mask) has begun shooting a documentary about the Heartbreakers' history. "We've given him access that we've never given anybody," says Petty. Bogdanovich will interview Petty at length and hopes to talk with Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks and members of Petty's family.

"We're trying to give a sense of what happened to this group of kids that came from Gainesville, Florida -- how they made the big time," says Bogdanovich. "How did that change them, and how did they change the world?

"I'm not an expert on Tom Petty, I'm just a fan," adds Bogdanovich. "But what appeals to me is that he's a real American artist -- an impressionist -- very much of the American grain."

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers tour dates thus far:

6/16: Manchester, TN (Bonnaroo Music Festival)

With Pearl Jam:

6/26: Saint Paul, MN, Xcel Energy Center

6/27: Saint Paul, MN, Xcel Energy Center

7/2: Denver, Pepsi Center

7/3: Denver, Pepsi Center

AUSTIN SCAGGS

[NewRider]

I always imagined Petty being one of those artists that will go playing 'til his death. That would really suck if he retired after this tour. I've been fucked out of seeing him several times so I'm really hoping for a Toronto date.

[TimmyB]

In the article above, Petty himself says that he will still perform just not a big summer tour.

But if Petty doesn't come to Toronto this time around, all the fans of the Heartbreakers in Southern Ontario better make sure they check a gig out in New York or Michigian or Ohio or wherever? As if that's it for big tours Petty will likely not play anywhere closer than Chicago or New York City after this year.

Tim

[Velvet]

C'mon Bluesfest.

[Jaimoe]

Maybe Tom's other gig is getting in the way. Anyone a fan of his character Lucky on King Of The Hill? Man, he's been a great recurring character addition. Lucky's favourite band is Brownsville Station. Same here

[AD]

C'mon Bluesfest.

Fuck yeah!!