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.

MOJO'S 70 GREAT SOUL ALBUMS FROM THE '70S

I love lists, and British music magazine Mojo has some great ones.  In the recent issue (Robert Plant cover), they list 70 great soul albums from the '70s.  I confess that I haven't yet read it.  You see, I like to create a soundtrack for every Mojo list-type feature, and I just finished creating my iTunes playlist.  But I wanted to tell you about this issue while it's still available! A lot of the albums are in my collection - everyone should have Stevie Wonder's Innervisions, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Sly & The Family Stone's There's A Riot Goin' On and Funkadelic's Maggot Brain. But the list called my attention to artists I haven't listened to much (Donny Hathaway, Johnnie Taylor) and a few who I don't know anything about, or I never even heard of! (Like Shirley Brown, Honey Cone and Willie Hutch.) I love to learn about artists who time has sort of "forgotten," whether they are garage rock, country, blues or soul. So this countdown is a big gift! Thank you Mojo!

MOJO TURNS 200, TOM WAITS EDITS

I'm a bit behind on this, but you should look for the latest issue of Mojo, it's the 200th issue, and to celebrate, they let Tom Waits edit. And why not? Tom interviews Hank Williams III in the issue, and Joe Henry interviews Harry Belafonte. There's also lots of historical features from the magazine's history, including stories on the making of Nirvana's In Utero (the magazine's first "album of the month") and Radiohead 's OK Computer. My favorite was the story behind Bob Dylan's Time Out Of Mind, where many of the players on the album (but not Dylan, nor producer Daniel Lanois) give the behind-the-scenes story of the album. It seemed like Dylan didn't like Lanois' ideas, and neither did most of the musicians, but the tension between Bob and Lanois led to a classic album (as it did years earlier when they did Oh Mercy together).

Anyway, as always, a great read.

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS: GOT THEIR "MOJO" WORKIN'

I loved Tom Petty's last two albums, both of which were non-Heartbreakers projects: 2008's Mudcrutch reunion/debut album, and 2006's solo album Highway Companion (which reunited him with the Full Moon Fever team of Heartbreaker Mike Campbell and Traveling Wilbury Jeff Lynne). But I'm glad that his next album will be the first Heartbreakers studio album since 2002's underrated The Last DJ. The album is called Mojo and will be coming out in the spring.  And if you buy tickets for the band's summer tour, you automatically get a free digital copy of the album. Also of note: the opening bands on this summer's tour include My Morning Jacket, Joe Cocker, Crosby Stills & Nash, ZZ Top and The Drive-By Truckers. Man, I would LOVE to see The Drive-By Truckers with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Anyway, get more info about the album and the tour at Tom's website. And by the way, check out his weekly SIRIUS|XM Radio show on Deep Tracks, you can also hear it all day long on SIRIUS|XM Music Showcase.