tom petty live photo 2014. Photo by: Brian Schanck

Tom Petty is Your Favorite Wine | Live Review + Live Photos | Amalie Arena Tampa | September 21 2014

by Dainon Moody • September 25, 2014

When Tom Petty took the stage in Tampa, FL last Sunday, he had the home field advantage. He wasn’t in his Gainesville, FL hometown, but he was welcomed as warmly as if he had been. They weren’t only happy to see he and his band; they were applauding their hero, their unofficial mascot. As a singer of songs, a career hit-maker, even a bit of an unlikely sex symbol (no, really), Petty is one of Florida’s own. They claim him just as often as they can. He’s as regularly associated with the Sunshine State as oranges and alligators.

And yet? There are, in fact, still some few out there who simply don’t ‘get’ Tom Petty. It’s fairly unfortunate to cross paths with them, too, because any wide-eyed glowing praise you’re offering in his general direction gets an immediate opposite reaction from their camp, and, before you can even state your case, it’s on: you’re part of a battle you probably can’t and won’t win.

But, say, this person, this terribly confused sort, say he or she got plucked from whatever sad existence they’re a part of and placed on the 10^th row of Sunday’s sold-out show in Tampa. It was filled with over 12,000 fans, many which seem to have been with him since he started this whole racket in the 70s. And he was singing old songs and he was weaving in his new ones and the Heartbreakers sounded like a-million dollars or more. Petty was as gracious as he was affable and he was able to command the band to stop on a dime with a casual wave of an arm.

If that happened, I think their only choice would be to end up loving him. They’d own the wide eyes. They’d share their own praises. They’d hook arms with those on both sides of them at the show and sing along loudly to “Learning to Fly” and “Free Fallin’” and “U Get Me High” and not think twice on it.

It’s not like you need to see Tom live to solidify yourself as an out-and-out fan, but it tends to help. It helps to witness just how good he is in that setting. Whether he was that great to begin with or whether he’s learned to sand the right corners and edges all along the way, it doesn’t much matter. What matters instead is what he’s able to do. Or the fact that it seems like he could easily keep at this for a good long spell to come. His confidence—and the confidence that belongs to his very able band of brothers—is as impressively massive as his boyish grin, as wide as his regularly open arms.

There aren’t very many bands that have three generations of family traveling from who-knows-where in the state to pay homage to all Tom and his Heartbreakers are doing. Not many musicians have the kind of career to provide piles of compact disc albums to ride shotgun on a road trip, worthy companions all the way to the concert and back again. And not many bands have a hopeful Gainesville woman in the crowd hoping to leave with his name; she’s got a caricature of the singer and she’s busily making a sign asking him to autograph it. (Fingers crossed, she got his attention and he did so.)

And yet, the band was so very humble in the presence of its gathered masses, all two hours and change of the concert. Humble when they needn’t have been, really. Then again, what do I know? I’m just a fan that’s become even more of one as I’ve grown older. Objectivity tends not to be my strong suit.**

Opening for Mr. Petty was Steve Winwood, a man who seems to have been in hiding ever since “Higher Love” first started making it hourly appearances on soft rock stations. Still, he more than earned his warm applause and reception.

Looking like a graying Wolverine with his long, white mutton chops, Petty made good on his promise to play some “vintage” hits, even hightailing it back to the 60s to offer up the classic Spencer Davis Group cut “Gimme Some Lovin’” (a close and personal favorite, to be sure). With a relatively small band to back him up—a couple drummers, a guy on sax, a guitarist and his on-again, off-again stints on the organ—their regular guitar solos won all kinds of praise.

It’s something that hardly exists anymore, the long, drawn-out, expertly executed guitar solo; perhaps it was all the more reason for people to leap out of their seats and rush the stage to get a closer look or snap a blurry photo. Message to all other bands? Bring back those solos already. Your fans want to love you for them.

**If you, too, want to know and enjoy Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers even more than you already do, watch the lengthy and enjoyable documentary “Runnin’ Down A Dream” and scoop up The Live Anthology box set. Besides seeing them live, these two marvelous works will get you to where you want and need to be. Promise.