TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS IN NJ - GREAT (AS ALWAYS)

Twenty-five years and (give or take) two months ago, I went to see my ninth rock concert, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers with 'Til Tuesday (featuring Aimee Mann!) at the Brendan Byrne Arena. Tonight I returned to the scene of the crime to see Tom and the band (this time with My Morning Jacket opening).

I'm not as wide-eyed about concerts anymore (I've been to hundreds, and maybe over a thousand, since then - one day I've got to try and tally the number).  But I'm a bigger fan of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers than ever. To my ears, their music gets better every year. I loved their last album, The Last DJ, as well as Tom's recent projects: his solo album Highway Companion and especially the Mudcrutch reunion/debut album. The new album, Mojo, is taking a bit of time for me. I love some of the new songs ("No Reason To Cry" is gorgeous, "Jefferson Jerico Blues" rocks righteously). But some of it sounds like it was more fun to play than it is to listen to.  Still, Tom is very behind the album, and played four songs in a row from the new album. It's kind of a bummer that most people there didn't realize that if they bought tickets for the show, they get a free download of the album (there were video ads pointing out "yes, you've already paid for it!").  Tom's been at this for a while, and as much as he dodges the "classic rock"/"oldies" thing, he knows there's only so much he can get away with, so the rest of the show was a pretty standard list of hits, along one of my favorites, "Kings Highway" from Into The Great Wide Open, andthe frequently covered Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac classic "Oh Well." I guess it's kind of churlist to say that Tom should be doing different things live at this stage of the game: the arena was nearly sold out in a summer where everyone is having a hard time selling tickets.  And everyone seemed to have a great time. I just wish he was taking more risks live.  Back in 1996, when the band did their exteded residency at San Francisco's Fillmore in support of (and instead of touring for) She's The One, it altered their chemistry as a live band.  They brought back lots of old songs, did lots of covers, and it seemed like anything could happen at one of Tom's shows (as opposed to most of his "classic rock" peers, whose concerts were enjoyable yet predictable). I guess I would love to see them recharge by doing a club stint (preferably on the east coast!).  That said, the band was great (notably guitarist Mike Campbell, who seems to be FINALLY getting his due as one of the best guitarists) and no one at the concert had a complaint, it was an excellent show.

My Morning Jacket were good as well.  I've expressed admiration for frontman Jim James before, but I sometimes think of the band as health food.  I know they're good for music, and I should probably listen to them more, but I sometimes find them boring.  And tonight's performance had it's dull moments.  But there were also great ones - the best being during their one semi-hit single (that I know of, anyway), "I'm Amazed." Incredible song. The audience loved it, and the band seemed to enjoy playing it.  I know a lot of indie bands have a thing about hit singles, like they aren't cool.  But if I were an indie band worrying about such things, I'd look no further than tonight's headliner to see how to rack up multiple hits and never lose credibility.

COOL DOC: TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS' "DAMN THE TORPEDOES" (and other DVDs)

I've definitely been in a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers mood, and mode, lately.  I'm going to see them in concert tomorrow night.  So, I was stoked to get a new DVD episode covering their classic album, 1979's Damn The Torpeodes.   I would have thought that Tom and the guys would have been "documentaried out" after 2007's career spanning documentary Runnin' Down A Dream.  But the original band members - Tom Petty, guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, former and current bassist Ron Blair (he quit the band, but rejoined a few years back) sat down for new interviews, as did producer Jimmy Iovine (wearing his "Beats By Dre" headphones) and engineer Shelly Yakus (ex-drummer Stan Lynch's interviews are taken from archival footage, and when Petty refers to him, you can still hear the anger, but also the respect for him). As with the Black Sabbath Paranoid Classic Albums DVD, this one is great and takes you pretty deep into the album.

Tom, Mike and Iovine sit down at a mixing board and go through lots of the songs, isolating tracks and marveling at what they did all those years ago. They talk about how legendary drummer Jim Keltner played the shaker on "Refugee" which gave it its "mojo," how Tom almost gave the his former Mudcrutch song "Don't Do Me Like That" to The J. Geils Band ("I thought it sounded like a J. Geils Band song!") and how Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench came up with their riffs. Torpedoes is an incredible album, and I don't think that it gets its due, and this doc helps to rectify that.

But watching this DVD got me to thinking abot all of the Petty DVDs that are out there, many of them I've never written about. Runnin' Down A Dream I have written about.  Best Buy actually had a 4 disc version, which featured a four hour version of the documentary, a concert from Petty's 2006 tour and a CD of rare tracks. That's the gold standard if you're a huge fan.  You can't get that version anymore - the one that is now available (everywhere, not just at Best Buy) is 2 discs and just contains the documentary.

Last year, Best Buy had an exclusive expanded version of the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers box set, The Live Anthology, which contained two DVDs. One disc, 400 Days, was a documentary on the making of, and touring behind, Tom's solo album, Wildflowers.  But the doc was really boring in my opinion, I'd skip that one.  Not so for the other DVD: Live At the Santa Monica Civic Auditorum, recorded on New Year's Eve 1978/1979.  I wish they'd release this on CD (or even mp3).  Great performance by the original version of the band.

In 1996, the band played a series of concerts at the Fillmore in San Francisco; they decided not to tour for the She's The One soundtrack, instead opting for a long residency at the legendary venue.  I believe that those shows transformed the band for years to come, and made them a more kick-ass band. Three years later, in 1999 with Echo as their new album, they returned to the Fillmore and this DVD is the proof of how rocking they were. Lots of classics, as well as great mid- and late- '90s tunes that deserve to be re-examined ("Swingin'," "Walls," "Angel Dream," "Room At The Top," "Free Girl Now" and even "I Don't Wanna Fight" [sung by Mike] are all excellent).

In 2003, they released The Last DJ: Live At The Olympic. You know how I feel about The Last DJ! This concert sees the band accompanied by an orchestra (conducted by Jon Brion, who has produced records for Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple and Kanye West). The encore included some classics, as well as covers of "Shake, Rattle & Roll" and Chuck Berry's "Around and Around." A bonus CD, Bad Girl Boogie, features covers of The Animals' "I'm Crying," Elmore James' "Done Somebody Wrong," Ray Charles' "I Got A Woman" and Chuck Berry's "Carol." Awesome collection.

In 2005, they released their episode of the PBS series SoundStage, which featured a few hits and lots of covers ("Baby, Please Don't Go," "Born In Chicago," "Little Red Rooster").  Another great performance. I guess the deal with Tom is, when you go to see him live (or even watch him on DVD or Blu-Ray), you can't go wrong!

JOHNNY CASH'S FINAL ALBUM DUE FEBRUARY 26

A few weeks ago, I wrote about rumors of Johnny Cash's final album, American VI: Ain't No Grave. Looks like that's the name of the album, and here's the cover, it comes out on February 26 on what would have been The Man In Black's 78th birthday. These songs were recorded during the same sessions that yielded American V: A Hundred Highways.  He knew these songs would be his last ones.  It gives a lot of weight to songs on American V like "God's Gonna Cut You Down." I imagine this album will be similarly heavy. Like that album, this one features Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench of The Heartbreakers.  Some of the songs: Sheryl Crow's "Redemption Day," Kris Kristofferson's "For The Good Times," Queen Lili'uokalani's "Aloha Oe," and one of the last songs Cash wrote himself, "I Corinthians 15:55." I think Johnny Cash's American Recordings albums were phenomonal, and I'm glad that we're getting the chance to hear all of the sessions.