RIP, Tom Petty

[exskibum]

Oct. 20, 1950 - Oct. 2, 2017

Teri and I saw him Friday, September 1 in Sacramento, 9 rows in front of the stage. This show was postponed from a week earlier, due to laryngitis. Teri, a nurse, commented that she thought it might have been more than just laryngitis. The performance was great, but there was something in the way he moved and seemed to have to support himself more than the times I've seen him in the past. He played the last show of his tour just last Monday (9/25) at the Hollywood Bowl - the consummate performer who never let down or lost sight of his fans.

I am grateful for the 4 times (7/79 - 9/17) I got to see him, and for all the good times I have had listening to his music - he was an icon, truly having earned all he achieved. My favorite artist, and I'm so glad to have been able to share that last concert experience with Teri. Most of all though, I'm proud of the real outpouring of love from the Sacramento audience we were a part of. He seemed truly to bask in it in an almost surreal foreshadowing of the end (of a touring career, I thought).

Too much heavy business in the wind these days. And now we've lost our bard.

https://www.tompetty.com/news/sacramento-photos-and-recap-1755686

 

[Auburn]

Saw Tom Petty for the first time on 8/19/17 at Safeco Field in Seattle. Great concert. Always a fan of his music.

 

[Mr_Canoehead]

I saw him twice - wish it had been more. I think that my "Driving Tunes" playlist has more TP songs than any other artist.

 

[El Toro]

Still unconfirmed as I write this.

It is likely that he wont make it, but hes not yet succumbed.

 

[steveoreno]

Truly horrific day guys.

 

[exskibum]

Truly horrific day guys.

Not an exaggeration there, and that isn't even extending the good guys vs. bad guys score to the full weekend.

 

[El Toro]

He has succumbed.

Only 66 years old.

Sigh ....

 

[hppants]

^^^^^^ This.

I'm 51 years old, which is to say I like Tom Petty's music as much as the next guy. But what really hits me in the beer belly was that he was sixty-six years old. There was a time when that seemed ancient. Not anymore.

Somehow this week, I keep thinking that there is SOOOOOOO much left to do. I gotta get my mind right.....

 

[exskibum]

I'm 65, and was still a ski bum living in Tahoe City the first time I saw him in '79 - at Calaveras County Fairgrounds, the opening act before Linda Ronstadt. To me, Tom Petty's music never seemed dated and I have more TP songs in my playlists than anything else.

The Beatles hit the US while I was in 7th grade and announced their breakup during my first year in college. Like many in my generation (including Tom Petty), they were a dominant part of my soundtrack growing up and inspired me to take up guitar. But to me, more than anyone else, Tom Petty was the bard of our generation of Americans; he had a way of chronicling what it was like to experience being an American in the decades since the Beatles. Others wrote anthems that maybe got greater acclaim, but the Heartbreakers performing Tom's compositions celebrated the life so many of us lived. And there were so many such songs that it was a comfort, whether it made you get up and dance, smile at your girlfriend swaying to the music or simply hear it purring along in the background. In that regard, he was our bard, our poet, our songwriter.

I remember a Stanford heart surgeon I knew being asked at a party about what kind of music he listened to in the OR: "probably classical, right?" "No," he said, "Tom Petty." And if you ever saw the band live, you know why so many were rabid fans. The song writing was absolutely top notch, but the band was as tight as it gets. Together 40+ years, with arguably the best lead guitarist and keyboard player, their musicianship was non-pareil. They didn't play all 6 string chords with each instrument's contribution stepping on another to create sonic mush. Every one played parts in different registers, maybe a 3 string chord or a double stop, so that it all contributed to a finely tuned arrangement that featured the vocals and the lyrics, because Tom's lyrics were THAT good. Best of all, they really seemed to enjoy hosting a party. Tom would announce that you were there as a welcome guest at a party where they intended to play long and late. And with this impish grin, he let you in on the secret that everyone was going to have a good time. It was infectious.

Tom Petty made it seem that our youth might stretch on forever. By damn, he will be missed.

 

[FJRBandit]

Of course his entire collection of music is awesome, but from the first time I heard "Refugee" wafting down the halls at Lyman Ward Military Academy in 1979 I was hooked. Damn the Torpedoes is, and always has been one of my all-time favorite albums. From "Refugee" to "Louisiana Rain" the entire album is nothing but a collection of nine classics. If I could only take five albums to a deserted island, to never have any other music to listen to, it would certainly be one of the five.

The first time I saw TP and the Heartbreakers was on the Long After Dark tour in 1983 after a cold, 6 hour ride to Memphis, TN in a Volkswagon Thing. The heater worked in the Thing, but you had to put your foot directly under the one vent to get any heat at all. My buddy and I had blankets draped over us as we rolled up old U.S. 78, road tripping at 17 y.o. We even stopped in Mississippi and bought a 12 pack of Coors, which was unavailable in Alabama at the time. It was an incredible show and to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers was one of the highlights to that point in my young life. After the show at the Mid-South Colliseum, we went over to the exclusive Rhodes College where my buddy's girlfriend had recently started college. We spent the night in her room in the girl's dorm. As I recall, that was my first road trip without my parents. Those were the days.

Tom and I broke up in 1991 after I went to Atlanta to see him on the Full Moon Fever tour. He was very strung out on something that night - now I know it was likely heroin - it was like he couldn't even speak, much less sing. I was extremely excited to finally see him again and was so disappointed by the "performance" that I had a hard time even listening to him for a few years. I felt he had let "me" down. But I finally got over it and forgave Tom. I have enjoyed listening to his commentary and insight on his XM Buried Treasure show over the past few years. He will always be the Rebel Rocker to me and as exskibum said, by damn, he will be missed!

 

[dravnx]

Saw Petty with Dylan and then 2 nights with the Dead. Alpine Valley, Wi. sometime in the late "80's. Camped in the parking lot. Now that was a weekend.

 

[Uncle Hud]

It was kind of cold that night
she stood alone on her balcony.
She could hear the cars roll by
out on 441
like waves crashin’ on the beach,
and for one desperate moment there
he crept back in her memory.
God it’s so painful,
something that’s so close
and still so far out of reach.

Yep, the guy had writing skills.

 

[Craigar]

^^^^^^ This.
I'm 51 years old, which is to say I like Tom Petty's music as much as the next guy. But what really hits me in the beer belly was that he was sixty-six years old. There was a time when that seemed ancient. Not anymore.

Somehow this week, I keep thinking that there is SOOOOOOO much left to do. I gotta get my mind right.....

^^^^^^ This. I'm 51 years old, which is to say I like Tom Petty's music as much as the next guy. But what really hits me in the beer belly was that he was sixty-six years old. There was a time when that seemed ancient. Not anymore. Somehow this week, I keep thinking that there is SOOOOOOO much left to do. I gotta get my mind right.....

You've read my mind, hppants. Two weeks ago, I was in the hospital battling double pneumonia. This was my wake up call. I am also 51 years old. Nothing is a guarantee in life, especially health. Time to prioritize what's most important. I say this as I am heading out to board a flight for business. RIP Tom Petty. You will be sorely missed!

 

[biknflyfisher]

RIP Tom Petty - Last dance with Mary Jane.....

 

[BigOgre]

I looked for a version without all the pop-ups but failed.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-tom-petty-the-final-interview-20171004-story.html

 

[exskibum]

SNL tonight, in a 1 hour re-run following tonights new 90 minute live show, is a show from November of 1979 (38 years ago). The musical guest is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - appearing 4 months after I first saw them. Two songs performed: Refugee and Dont Do Me Like That. Of the 5 band members that night, 4 were on stage when we saw them Sept. 1, 2017. That has always been a tight band, but now its brilliant leader and songwriter is gone. Still sad at that news here.

 

[dcarver]

but there was something in the way he moved and seemed to have to support himself more than the times I've seen him in the past.

..and now we learn he broke his hip before the last tour began. Yet he played on.

 

[FJRBluesman]

I first saw Tom Petty in the mid 70s, Santa Monica Civic, fairly new guy then. My wife and I just saw him at the Hollywood Bowl 2nd show Friday, September 22, 2017, 9 days later he was gone. Some great tunes will live on. RIP TP.

 

[Bustanut joker]

His wife is from Flushing Mi. about 20 miles from me.

Every year since 2000 he was at Duffys bar on Christmas eve. Might have been going before then but that's when I met him.

You'd never known he was anyone but a local, and we treated him as such.