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Saturday, September 4, 2010

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers



I'm always late on these updates, either way here it is. On August 27th, at Saratoga Performing Arts Center here in New York, I went to see; Crospy, Stills & Nash, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Tom Petty was on tour for his new album MOJO. If you haven't heard it yet I suggest checking it. I'm figuring if you've read this far into this then you like Tom Petty.

The show was great. The bands sounded amazing. Tom Petty does his little dances like I've seen him do in other live performances I've seen on the web. I will say however the crowd at the show was HUGE. Massive! I've never been to a concert with that many people there. I can't even begin to give an estimate. At one point in time me and my girlfriend went to the bathroom's and to grab a beer. We got there after about 10 minutes, should have been about a minute walk. Once we got there the crowd of people rushing to the bathrooms (CSN had just finished their set) was enormous. We attempted walking to the beer area but it was packed full of people, no room to breathe. We stopped near a sign or something on the ground, figuring they're going to be going around it anyway. Every now and then the crowd would let up and you could start to feel fresh air again, and just when you are finally getting the air you need, the crowd would close in around you.
The spot we had on the lawn for the show wasn't in the best spot, but you could just see Tom Petty at his microphone where I was standing. The bonus of the spot was the giant screen right in front of us so we could see up close shots the band performing. The sound was good, although I could hear more bass than guitar, and the vocals seemed low. Maybe just because of where I was, I'm not sure.

I can't remember the setlist off the top of my head. Such a horrible memory. So thankfully we are on the internet, and a quick google search brings it right up from Setlist.fm:
  1. Listen to Her Heart
  2. You Don't Know How It Feels
  3. I Won't Back Dow
  4. Free Fallin
  5. Oh Well (Fleetwood Mac cover)
  6. Mary Jane's Last Dance
  7. Carol (Chuck Berry cover)
  8. Breakdown
  9. Jefferson Jericho Blues
  10. Good Enough
  11. Running Man's Bible
  12. I Should Have Known It
  13. Learning to Fly
  14. Don't Come Around Here No More
  15. Refugee
Encore:
  1. Runnin' Down a Dream
  2. American Girl

And of course here is Crosby, Stills & Nash's setlist:
  1. Woodstock (Joni Mitchell cover)
  2. Military Madness (Graham Nash cover)
  3. Long Time Gone
  4. Bluebird (Buffalo Springfield cover)
  5. Déjà vu
  6. Long May You Run (Neil Young cover)
  7. Ruby Tuesday (The Rolling Stones cover)
  8. Our House
  9. Southern Cross
  10. Chicago
  11. Almost Cut My Hair
  12. Wooden Ships
Encore:
  1. Love the One You're With (Stephen Stills cover)
  2. For What It's Worth (Buffalo Springfield cover)
Encore 2:
  1. Teach Your Children
I was hoping to hear a guest appearance from Neil Young, especially when Long May You Run came on. I wasn't anywhere near finding a place yet to sit yet, was still looking for a few friends I was meeting there. We finally met up with each other after grabbing a beer. Then we all wondered around. Didn't really sit down until around Southern Cross started.

Here are some pictures and a few videos I took at the show. Some of the pictures were taken of the screen because zooming in 32x makes for a blurry picture when people bump into you.










And here are the three videos I got of the show:






3 comments:

cardiogirl said...

I haven't been to a concert in forever but it never would have occurred to me to turn to the internet to find the set list.

I LOVE technology.

Michael Rector said...

Hey thanks! Yeah the internet is an amazing tool if used right. You can find just about anything you want. Especially with the help of bloggers all over.

Phil Clark said...

Cool pictures,thanks for sharing. Tom Petty is one of my favorites.