Tom Petty Live at Saratoga: Summer 2005

by Thomas Dimopoulos

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Wearing a schoolboy smile and a multi-colored ascot
that invoked the mod Carnaby Street pop-isms of his teenage years, Tom Petty
clutched the neck of his white tear-shaped guitar and led his band of Heartbreakers
through a rousing two-hour set at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saturday night.

Marking a return to the Spa City for the first time in three years, Petty's onstage exuberance was reciprocated by a joyous gathering of nearly 25,000 fans at the sold out show.

Revisiting the band's earliest work, Petty and The Heartbreakers breathed new life into
their 1970s material 'Breakdown,' 'Listen To Her Heart,' and 'Refugee.'

The hit parade continued throughout, with the band rifling through a series of drive-time radio hits: 'Runnin' Down a Dream,' 'I Won't Back Down,' 'Free Fallin'' and 'Don't Do Me Like That.'

They also delivered a pair of anthems for the MTV generation with 'Mary Jane's Last Dance' and 'You Don't Know How it Feels.'

Behind the performers, a towering video display captured the band's performance in real time.

The backdrop appeared like a massive mirror that had shattered into 15 jagged edges - the multiple screens pulsing with neon intensity as the band pumped up the volume onstage.

Millions of record sales, more than a dozen Grammy nominations and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame have rewarded Petty's talent for constructing timeless songs of boys and girls coming together - and falling apart.

The 54-year old front man, however, has never forgotten his musical influences.

In addition to playing 'Handle with Care' from his incarnation with the Traveling Wilburys, Petty performed renditions of The Animals' 'Cryin',' Van Morrison's 'Gloria,' and a true to the original work-up of Bob Dylan's 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door,' during Saturday's appearance.

There were new songs, like the rhythmically addictive 'Melinda,' which featured the wondrous, extended jazzy solos of keyboardist Benmont Tench, as well as some tastefully twisted alterations applied to odes from the past.

With 'Learning To Fly,' Petty adopted a ballad-like stroke similar to Bruce Springsteen's gospel-inspired works.
Alternately, the band's performance of 'Don't Come Around Here No More' ratcheted up the sonic intensity as the stage was bathed in the lighted effects of the white-hot strobes.

Soaring to a frenetic finale, it was a moment to pause and to celebrate Petty and his Heartbreakers - on the verge of their 30-year anniversary - before the jangling rhythms of Petty's electric guitar resumed its ringing deep into night.

published in The Saratogian, Aug. 1, 2005.