February 3, 2008

Live Review of Tom Petty at Halftime

I like Tom. In fact back in the day when I was in a band we covered every single song on his first album.



I've seen him in concert a few times over the years and he seems to have a good time performing live and sounds good. I think he's probably a great guy in his "real life" and I love the fact that The Heartbreakers have stuck together.

But....

This performance that I am watching right now is....dull. So far. He just started "Free Falling" since its a slower song, maybe it will come off better than American Girl and the other one he played (I can't even remember what it was...and it was only a few seconds ago).

My personal opinion, and this is nothing against TP, he was a poor choice for the halftime. They needed someone a little more exciting. Sorry, Tom.

I still think this was his best album of all time, and I still know every word to all these songs:

  1. "Rockin' Around (With You)"
  2. "Breakdown"
  3. "H0metown Blues"
  4. "The Wild One, Forever"
  5. "Anything That's Rock 'N' Roll"
  6. "Strangered In The Night"
  7. "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)"
  8. "Mystery Man"
  9. "Luna"
  10. "American Girl"

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

who were the people in his band?

Bar L. said...

Anon, I don't know if your question is serious or sarastic. There were a few changes in the line-up over the years but Mike Campbell has been there the whole time.

If you are sincerely intersted here is a link that has the exact members and years they were in the band:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Petty#The_Heartbreakers

Anonymous said...

Hmm, I don't know. Live on TV is always much worse than live in person or studio recorded.. acoustics and all.

I enjoyed it. Much, much better than the Rolling Stones did. eek.

RAHM said...

for me it was strange to see Tom Petty in the halftime, because I thought a rap singer could be there, and after U2, Rolling Stones, Prince, Janet Jackson and Timberlake I could imagine they put some heavy weight artist, maybe they are in rehab..:):)
Tom Petty played "I won't back down", "Free Falling, "Running down a dream" I didn't hear the first one, good performance after all, but not for a SuperBowl...

Jeff said...

Well I'm sure you would probably agree, but nobody has ever put on a Halftime show like U2. It was one of the few performances that brought a tear to my eye, and my God did they sound incredible. TP was alright, but there was no excitement... As you said, a dull performance.

Bar L. said...

RAHM, I agree...not the best choice for an SB Show.

Jeff!!! I AGREE A MILLION PERCENT!

Russ said...

I have to say I agree with you. The last song (Runnin' Down A Dream) was the best, mostly for the guitar work. But, even so, it was good to see Tom out there doing his thing for all the folks watching the game. And I think it's better to have an OK performance rather than a controversial performance that takes attention away from the game.

You know who would have done a better job? Bruce, of course! (I know you'll agree with me on that.)

David Amulet said...

I thought it was a bit slow, too. But like you, I've always had a warm spot for TP.

I found it sad for the Heartbreakers that they played four songs, and three of them--"I Won't Back Down," "Free Falling," and "Runnin' Down a Dream"--were Tom Petty solo singles!

So, TP was fine, but I prefer something a bit more edgy. And "controversy" is fun, we could use some of that back ... "Oh my God, we saw a woman's body. EEK! Everybody panic!!!"

-- david

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

totally agree it was a boring show...the NFL did stop him from playing one of his newer songs...

Just not sure the venue and the fact they had to rip through 4 songs in a short period was right for him...

BeckEye said...

"Even the Losers" was always my favorite, but I guess that's not an appropriate game to play at the Super Bowl. :)

He's just old and out of gas. It could've been worse. He could've had a wardrobe malfunction. Yeee-ikes.

BeckEye said...

"Song," not "game."

Anonymous said...

Was it just me, or did it seem like he didn't play very long at all, in comparison to Prince's set last year? Tepid set aside, he didn't seem to play enough.

Otherwise -- 18-1. Go Giants! The parade today was positively sick! Ok, I'm gloating.

Mike said...

I like TP. But his performance was just ok. Mike Campbell still can light it up on guitar, but Tom looked tired. Contrary to what Lauren said, I thought the Stones were much more energetic and entertaining. U2 and Prince have been the highwater standard in the last few years.

Maybe Zep would be a "good" act next year? :-)

Kinda mixed on that...would hate to see such a great band stoop to the NFL machine.

Malcolm said...

I too like Tom, but he wouldn't have even made the list of performers I would choose to play The Super Bowl. The most exciting part of the show was when the giant arrow headed towards the lighted heart-shaped stage at the beginning.

Bar L. said...

Russ, Long time no see! Thanks for stopping by.

David - LOL, yeah I agree.

Bond, Yep. Too bad.

Becky - LOL!!!! No kidding. But I love that song too.

Mad, Congrats on the win and yes, it did seem like an awfully short performance.

Mike, there's a fine line there - I would not want LZ to go that low, yet when U2 did it, it seemed fine. Weird. Bruce would be PERFECT

Bar L. said...

Malcolm, dang I missed that part!

Perplexio said...

I have to agree with Lauren on this one... for a guy his age, Tom Petty's voice has held up VERY well over the years. He sounded much better this year than the Stones did 2 years ago.

I'm not a huge fan of his by any stretch, but I've got to say he's still got "it." Some of these singers/performers try to keep going long after they've lost "it."

Mick Jagger's voice isn't even a shadow of what it once was. I know in some circles saying that is sacrilege-- how dare anyone defile the Stones! I'll take this year's Super Bowl halftime show over the Stones show 2 years ago any day!

Prince's show last year was also much better than the Stones show the year before.

Perplexio said...

PS: I have to agree with Jeff about U2... Every year prior to that it seemed the halftime shows were getting more and more ostentatious and obnoxiously over the top. The year U2 did the Super Bowl was the first Super Bowl after 9/11. They kept it low-key and they showed a lot of class. I'm not a huge U2 fan (like Toni), but I do like them and I have to agree that really was the best half time show I'd seen in a long time and I haven't seen one that good since.

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