Tom Petty is truly a master of the musical hybrid. Combining elements of folk, new wave and classic rock and roll, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers concerts are vivid jaunts through musical history, a tribute to times past with the promise of wonderful new things to come. It's innovative, yet strikingly familiar; you can hear in his work that Petty recognizes his influences but twists them to create something that doesn't force listeners to pick out specifics. The lines are blurred so carefully that all you hear is, simply, Tom Petty.
Petty started his career with infamous backing band the Heartbreakers in the mid-70s. Their 1976 debut Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers was an instant success in England (thanks in part to an extensive tour with Nils Lofgren), charting in the U.K. Top 40 and allowing Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers concert tickets to sell out all over Europe. The rousing overseas success paved the way for an American breakthrough, and their 1978 follow-up You're Gonna Get It went straight to Top 40 on the American charts. But the record that really sealed the deal for American popularity was 1979's Damn the Torpedoes, an innovative rock record that set up house on the Top Ten and eventually sold double-platinum. Plagued by record label problems, Petty didn't release another record until the early 80s (1981's Hard Promises), but it too was a rousing success. The remainder of Petty's 80s releases were consistently well-received (especially 1989's Full Moon Fever), always hitting at least the Top Ten and helping Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers tickets to never see a failed sale.
But Petty wasn't just an 80s phenomenon; his success continued into the 90s and through the present day, hitting an incredible stride with 1994's Wildflowers. The stark innovation of Tom Petty has remained a staple within the rock and roll world, and a Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers concert is the perfect exhibition for that innovation. A traditional rock showman to the core, Petty works an audience not with flashy lights and costumes but with an intense sense of belonging and understanding; the songs are for the normal man, the everyday person's problems recorded on tape, and the concerts cater to that familiar, comforting aesthetic.
