Tom Petty Live at Saratoga: Summer 2002

by Thomas Dimopoulos

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Nearly 16,000 spirited fans packed into the Saratoga Performing
Arts Center on a Friday night blessed with accommodating weather, attractive lawn-sale
ticket prices and a virtual jukebox of rock 'n' roll hits from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

For the past 25 years, Tom Petty has weaved the poetic language of the common man with a sonically jangled surrealism. He has acquired star-power leverage and used it to do battle with record labels, concert promoters and music publishers, championing the rights of fans and fellow musicians.

In the process, he has earned the right to see his name engraved on a five-point star on Hollywood Boulevard, and he was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Not bad for an insurance salesman's son who grew up in Gainesville, Fla. listening to Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, who left high school to pursue his vision of the American dream.

Friday night, the band was performing on the fifth date of a summerlong tour. They brought along something for everybody.
For fans who came to celebrate, there were the anthemic strains of ''Refugee'' and ''I Won't
Back Down.'' Those tripping down memory lane were treated to fiery renditions of ''Even the Losers'' and ''Here Comes My Girl.'' And recreational vocalists found ''Free Falling,'' ''Mary Jane's Last Dance'' and a cover version of ''Gloria'' inspired full-throated sing-a-longs from the masses.

There was even one moment - during an extended musical interlude in the middle of
''It's Good To Be King'' - when Petty and guitarist Mike Campbell combined to tear
at the very fibers of the song's haunting melody.
The six-piece band, led by dual guitars, attacked the harmonies with such a sonically ferocious intensity that it literally raised the hairs on the back of your neck and you imagined that at any moment the floor would begin to levitate and send everyone zooming into outer space.

Petty, who looks like he hasn't aged a minute since 1978, seemed to be in great spirits from the moment the band took the stage.
Tearing through the opener, ''Runnin' Down A Dream,'' he flashed his pearly whites at the mic. ''It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down,'' Petty sang, amid the arsenal of distinctive guitar riffs behind him, ''I felt so good, like anything was possible.''

The band's sound was clean, crisp and nicely balanced in the amphitheater, from the guitar-and-piano interplay of ''I Need To Know'' to the airy harmonics of ''You Don't
Know How It Feels.''

Petty brought out the wood for a brief acoustic set that included ''Rebel,'' ''Learning To Fly'' and ''Yer So Bad,'' and while the set was loaded with hits, it was clear that this was no oldies revue.

The band debuted three songs from an upcoming CD titled ''The Last DJ'' and scheduled for autumn release, Petty announced.
Musically, the tunes covered familiar ground, while their lyrical introspection was memorable.

''Let my love travel with you always'' Petty drawled on the chorus of a song called ''Have Love Will Travel.'' Campbell squeezed a vintage-styled solo through a wah-wah pedal on the
''Abby Road''-era Beatles-esque ''You Can't Stop the Sun.''

And with the backdrop projecting images of falling snow, Petty sang, ''Please shed some light
on the road less traveled,'' in a piece titled ''Lost Children,'' as the stage resembled a scene inside a tumbling Christmas snow globe.

The towering set design, which gave the band the appearance that it was performing inside
of a king's giant crown, was fitted with multiple backscreens that complemented the music nicely.
A series of dreamy images conjured a swirly surrealism that looked like a 21st century
digital crank-up of the old Fillmore light shows of the '60s.

For the show-closing ''American Girl,'' Petty donned a Rickenbacker guitar, whose trademark jangling sound hung in the dense air long enough to inspire one last primal dance from the faithful. Eventually, they filed out to rejoin the rest of the world, taking the memory of a
ringing guitar as far as they could with them into the night.

Returning to his rockabilly roots, guitarist Brian Setzer rallied the crowd during his opening
set, highlighted by his renditions of ''Rock This Town '' and ''Brand New Cadillac.''

originally published in The Saratogian, July 8, 2002