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This page is our attempt to document the touring history (and as many setlists as possible!) of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. 

Much (although not all) of this is taken from the Gigography  previously hosted on Mudcrutch Farm, the Tour History previously hosted on Gone Gator, and various Wayback Machine archives of TomPetty.com. 

If you have a setlist not yet posted here (or notice any mistakes in our existing ones), please contact us .

Early Shows 1976-1977 | You're Gonna Get It! 1978 | Damn The Torpedoes 1979-1980 | Hard Promises 1981 | Long After Dark 1982-1983 | Southern Accents 1985 | True Confessions 1986 (w. Bob Dylan) | Rock 'n' Roll Caravan 1987 (w. Georgia Satellites & Del Fuegos) | Temple in Flames 1987 (w. Bob Dylan & Roger McGuinn) | Strange Behavior Tour 1989 | More Strange Behavior Tour 1990 | Touring the Great Wide Open 1991-1992 | Dogs with Wings 1995 | Fillmore House Band 1997 | Echo Tour 1999 | Way Out West/East Coast Invasion 2001 | The Last DJ 2002 | The Lost Cities Tour 2003 | For The Hell Of It Tour 2005 | Highway Companion / 30th Anniversary Tour 2006 | Mudcrutch 2008 | Summer Tour 2008 | Mojo Tour 2010 | Summer Tour 2012 | Summer Tour 2013 | 2014 Tour | Mudcrutch 2016 |  40th Anniversary Tour 2017

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Announce The 40th Anniversary Tour

Special Guests To Include Joe Walsh and Chris Stapleton

More Dates To Be Added, Including West Coast

Two Companion Vinyl Box Set Featuring Entire Studio Album Repertoire Out Today

LOS ANGELES, DEC. 9, 2016 – Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, one of the most iconic bands in American music history, have announced the first dates of their 40 th Anniversary Tour . Tom Petty announced the tour on SiriusXM ’s “ Tom Petty Radio ” this morning and also on “ The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ” last night: http://bit.ly/2giAGBr . The primarily U.S. tour, produced by Live Nation, will begin on April 20, 2017 in Oklahoma City and continues throughout the summer with more dates, including on the west coast, still to be announced.

Joe Walsh will appear as very special guest on many of the dates announced today and Chris Stapleton will appear as very special guest at Chicago’s Wrigley Field and for two nights at the Marcus Amphitheater at Milwaukee’s Summerfest.

Tickets for all of the newly announced shows, except for two concerts at New York City’s Forest Hills Stadium, will go on sale to the general public on Friday, December 16 at 10 a.m. local time. Special pre-sales for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Highway Companions Club members will begin Wednesday, December 14 at 10 a.m. local time. To sign up for the Highway Companions Club, whose membership includes exclusive pre-sale access and other perks, fans should visit the club’s website.

To further commemorate the 40th anniversary of their self-titled debut album, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers are releasing two companion vinyl box sets featuring their entire studio album repertoire. Both box sets are available today via UMe and Reprise/Warner Bros.  All LPs in the limited-edition box sets have been pressed on 180-gram vinyl with replica artwork. Several of these albums have been out of print on vinyl for years and most albums have been re-mastered for this release. 

Further details on the band’s 40 th Anniversary Tour and career-spanning vinyl box sets are available at  www.tompetty.com .

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS

THE 40 TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR

April 20*                 Chesapeake Energy Center                               Oklahoma City, OK

April 22*                 American Airlines Arena                                     Dallas, TX

April 23*                 Verizon Wireless Arena                                      Little Rock, AR

April 25*                 Bridgestone Arena                                              Nashville, TN

April 27*                 Philips Arena                                                      Atlanta, GA

April 29*                 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion                        Houston, TX

May 2                     Frank Erwin Center                                            Austin, TX

May 5*                    Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre                              West Palm Beach, FL

May 6*                    Amalie Arena                                                     Tampa, FL

May 8*                  FedEx Forum                                               Memphis, TN             

May 10*                  StateFarm Center                                              Champaign, IL

May 12*                  Scottrade Center                                                St. Louis, MO

May 13*                  Klipsch Music Center                                         Indianapolis, IN

May 29-30*             Red Rocks Amphitheatre                                   Morrison, CO 

June 2*                   Sprint Center                                                      Kansas City, MO

June 3*                   Xcel Energy Center                                            St. Paul, MN

June 5*                   Wells Fargo Center                                            Des Moines, IA

June 7*                    Schottenstein Center                                        Columbus, OH

June 9*                    PPG Paints Arena                                             Pittsburgh, PA

June 10*                  Quicken Loans Arena                                        Cleveland, OH

June 12*                  US Bank Arena                                                  Cincinnati, OH

June 14*                  XFINITY Theatre                                                Hartford, CT

June 16*                  Prudential Center                                               Newark, NJ

June 17                   Mountain Jam Festival                                       Hunter, NY

June 29**                 Wrigley Field                                                      Chicago, IL

July 1                       Wells Fargo Center                                            Philadelphia, PA

July 2                       CMAC Performing Arts Center                           Canandaigua, NY 

July 5-6**                 Marcus Amphitheater – Summerfest                  Milwaukee, WI

July 15                     Air Canada Centre                                             Toronto, ONT

July 18                     DTE Energy Music Theatre                                Detroit, MI

July 20                     TD Garden                                                          Boston, MA

July 23                    Royal Farms Arena                                                   Baltimore, MD

July 26-27***            Forest Hills Stadium                                           Queens, NY

*with very special guest Joe Walsh

**with very special guest Chris Stapleton

***on sale January 14

CONTACTS:  

Sacks & Co. for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ 40 th Anniversary Tour:  Carla Sacks

(212) 741-1000

[email protected]

Live Nation Media Contact:  Kaitlyn Henrich

(424) 303-6031

Read more about

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers announce 40th Anniversary Tour!

Catch Tom Petty’s full interview with David Fricke will premiering on Tom Petty Radio on Friday, Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. ET.

Tom Petty is back, and he’s hitting the road for the 40th Anniversary Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers 2017 Tour! Petty announced the tour dates during a conversation with SiriusXM host and Rolling Stone senior writer David Fricke, which can be heard throughout the weekend exclusively on Tom Petty Radio (Ch. 31) .

Produced by Live Nation, the tour will span across the United States beginning April 20, 2017 in Oklahoma City and continuing throughout the summer. Special guests scheduled to appear are Joe Walsh and Chris Stapleton. View the complete tour schedule below, and for more information visit www.tompetty.com .

“This is the tour we all said we weren’t gonna do anymore,” Petty said. “It’s our 40th anniversary, we really want to go to all these places at least one more time, and we’re gonna do it.”

Due to not having a new album to promote on this tour, the band is not restricted in what songs they will play during the tour. Petty said he’s going to bring back classics from the band’s extensive catalog.

“I’m gonna shoot for trying to play something from all the albums,” he said. “Maybe like taking the framework of the Beacon shows to a big place, adding in all those things people must hear.”

When Petty’s original band, Mudcrutch, reformed in 2015 to record a new album, he began focusing on playing bass for their record and tours. Now that he’ll be returning to The Heartbreakers, Petty will also be returning to playing guitar, which he said will be an adjustment.

“I have gotten out of practice on the electric guitar, I play the acoustic quite a bit in the studio,” he explained. “But I just went and played with the band for the first time in two years when all of us were there at was. We jammed for a few days and had the amps up loud, and I could tell I was a little rusty, but it’s coming back.”

Petty’s full interview with David Fricke will air on Tom Petty Radio on Friday, Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. ET. It will replay that night at 8 p.m. ET, Dec. 10 at 1 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET, and Dec. 11 at 11 a.m. ET and 6 p.m. ET.

40th Anniversary Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers 2017 Tour

Thursday, April 20: Oklahoma City, OK @ Chesapeake Energy Arena Saturday, April 22: Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center Sunday, April 23: Little Rock, AR @ Verizon Arena Tuesday, April 25: Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena Thursday, April 27: Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena Saturday, April 29: Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Tuesday, May 02: Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center Friday, May 05: West Palm Beach, FL @ Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre Saturday, May 06: Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena Monday, May 08: Memphis, TN @ FedEx Forum Wednesday, May 10: Champaign, IL @ StateFarm Center Friday, May 12: St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center Saturday, May 13: Indianapolis, IN @ Klipsch Music Center Monday, May 29: Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre Tuesday, May 30: Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre Friday, June 02: Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center Saturday, June 03: Saint Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center Monday, June 05: Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena Wednesday, June 07: Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center Friday, June 09: Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena Saturday, June 10: Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena Monday, June 12: Cincinnati, OH @ U.S. Bank Arena Wednesday, June 14: Hartford, CT @ Xfinity Theatre Friday, June 16: Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center Thursday, June 29: Chicago, IL @ Wrigley Field Saturday, July 01: Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center Sunday, July 02: Canandaigua, NY @ CMAC Performing Arts Center Saturday, July 15: Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre Tuesday, July 18: Detroit, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre Thursday, July 20: Boston, MA @ TD Garden Sunday, July 23: Baltimore, MD @ Royal Farms Arena Wednesday, July 26: Queens, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium Thursday, July 27: Queens, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium

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Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Announce 40th Anniversary Tour With Goofy ‘Fallon’ Sketch

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers announced a slew of 40th anniversary tour dates for 2017, featuring Joe Walsh and Chris Stapleton. Check those dates here, along with a goofy sketch featuring Petty on…

By Chris Payne

Chris Payne

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Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ’ self-titled debut album came out in November of 1976. That same year in early December, they embarked on their first tour . 2016 obviously marks the 40th anniversary of those events, and in the year’s waning weeks, the legendary band got around to announcing a big ol’ tour to celebrate.

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Chris Stapleton

The North American trek kicks off April 20 in Oklahoma City and features (so far) 35 dates, before wrapping July 27 at the Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, N.Y. We say “so far” because an official press release promises additional West Coast dates to be added. For now, the Live Nation tour will feature support from former Eagle  Joe Walsh and country luminary Chris Stapleton , respectively. See the complete itinerary below for their specific opening dates. 

Tickets for the majority of the shows go on sale Dec. 16, at 10 a.m. local time. Members of the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Highway Companions Club get a chance to purchase two days prior, also at 10 a.m. local time. 

Trending on Billboard

Previously, 40th anniversary festivities were limited to a pair of box sets, featuring the band’s entire studio album catalog on vinyl. These sets came out today. 

Tom Petty's Top 20 Billboard Hot 100 Hits

Tom Petty himself was video-chatted in to last night (Dec. 8)’s episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to mark the occasion… sort of. Let’s just say Petty was “very excited” to be speaking with Fallon. Check out the video below. It’s worth a few laughs.

40th Anniversary Tour Announced! For tour dates and info on pre-sales, tickets, and premium packages, go to https://t.co/XPJgbz9JUi . pic.twitter.com/4VVIyWkQbJ — Tom Petty (@tompetty) December 9, 2016

Here’s the tour itinerary, as of Dec. 9:

April 20: Oklahoma City, OK @ Chesapeake Energy Center* April 22: Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Arena* April 23: Little Rock, AR @ Verizon Wireless Arena* April 25: Nashville, TN @ Bridgesone Arena* April 27: Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena* April 29: Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion* May 2: Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center* May 5: West Palm Beach, FL @ Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre* May 6: Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena* May 8: Memphis, Tenn. @ StateFarm Center* May 10: Champaign, Ill. @ Scottrade Center*     May 12: St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center* May 13: Indianapolis, IN @ Klipsch Music Center* May 29: Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre May 30: Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre June 2: Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center* June 3: St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center* June 5: Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena* June 7: Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center* June 9: Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena* June 10: Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena June 12: Cincinnati, OH @ US Bank Arena* June 14: Hartford, CT @ XFINITY Theatre* June 16: Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center* June 17: Hunter, NY @ Mountain Jam Festival June 29: Chicago, IL @ Wrigley Field^ July 1: Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Arena July 2: Canandaigua, NY @ CMAC Performing Arts Center July 5: Milwaukee, WI @ Marcus Marcus Amphitheater, Summerfest^ July 6: Milwaukee, WI @ Marcus Marcus Amphitheater- Summerfest^ July 15: Toronto, Ontario @ Air Canada Centre July 18: Clarkson, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre July 20: Boston, MA @ TD Garden July 23: Baltimore, Md. @ Royal Farms Arena July 26: Queens, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium July 27: Queens, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium

* With Joe Walsh ^ With Chris Stapleton 

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Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: 40th Anniversary Tour [Concert Review]

Brian Q. Newcomb | May 18, 2017 May 18, 2017 | Concert Reviews , Reviews

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Tom Petty: 40th Anniversary Tour Might Be ‘Last Big One’

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

In late November, just weeks after the 40th anniversary of their debut record landing on record store shelves, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers got together at their rehearsal space in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley to jam, taking the first step toward their just-announced 2017 tour. “We mainly did cover songs,” says Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench. “When we get together we tend to do a lot of Chicago-style blues songs, but Tom was also making up songs on the spot. We were shaking off the rust.”

The rust had built up after a three-year hiatus from touring (their longest break in 25 years), but the band will make up for lost time on April 20th when they kick off their 40th anniversary tour at Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Center, staying on the road steadily through late August playing a mixture of arenas, festivals and the occasional stadium. “I’m thinking it may be the last trip around the country,” says Petty. “It’s very likely we’ll keep playing, but will we take on 50 shows in one tour? I don’t think so. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was thinking this might be the last big one. We’re all on the backside of our sixties. I have a granddaughter now I’d like to see as much as I can. I don’t want to spend my life on the road. This tour will take me away for four months. With a little kid, that’s a lot of time.”

As recently as June, Petty was planning to release a deluxe version of his 1994 solo LP Wildflowers next year, containing an entire bonus disc of unreleased material, and playing it all on a special tour. “The 40th anniversary kind of got in the way of that,” he says. “I looked at the tour they booked and it was all big places. The Wildflowers tour will have to be in smaller places because it’s just a lot of quiet and a lot of it is acoustic. It would be wrong to focus on one album for that tour.”

Without a new LP to promote, the band plans to dig deep into their archives next year, hitting each of their 13 albums and Petty’s three solo discs. From the late Nineties through the early 2010s the group leaned heavily on their many hits when they toured, along with a smattering of tunes from whatever their latest album was at the moment, but in 2013 they did a run of special theater shows at the Beacon in New York and the Fonda in Los Angeles that dramatically broadened the scope of their repertoire. “If I was a fan and they didn’t play ‘American Girl’ or ‘Free Fallin” I’d be disappointed,” says Petty. “But I want to continue with the vibe we had at the theater shows where we represented plenty of popular songs, but also give the longtime fans some really deep stuff, and we can change the show as much as we want from night to night.”

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While nothing is definite at the moment, Petty is into the idea of playing the title track to 1978’s You’re Gonna Get It (unplayed since New Year’s Eve 1978) and the mournful “Room at the Top” from 1999’s Echo , while Tench wants to play the title track to Echo , the Damn the Torpedoes classic “Louisiana Rain” and “Stories We Could Tell,” an Everly Brothers song they released on their 1985 live album Pack Up the Plantation. Guitarist Mike Campbell, meanwhile, hopes to convince the group to break out break out “Fooled Again,” “Luna” and “Hurt,” all of which come from their first two albums.

Excluding drummer Stan Lynch, who left the Heartbreakers in 1994 after years of tension with Petty, everyone on those early records remains in the band. “We grew up together and we love playing together more than than playing with anybody else,” says Campbell. “We’ve been through so much together. I don’t want to name names, but a lot of bands go out together and they just don’t like each other. They’re making a lot of money and just clocking in. We’ve never been like that, and we have a chemistry and a telepathy between us that is really rare.”

Many of the deep cuts they hope to revive on the 40th anniversary tour are in regular rotation on Tom Petty Radio, a SiriusXM channel that has occupied much of Petty’s time since the end of the last Heartbreakers tour in 2014. Unlike Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Buffett and Garth Brooks, all of whom have their own channels on the satellite radio service, Petty personally oversees the station, recording song intros at his own studio and even hosting the interview show Tom Talks to Cool People where he’s interviewed everyone from Micky Dolenz of the Monkees to Doors drummer John Densmore. “I’m in hog heaven with the radio thing,” Petty says. “I want to have the best rock & roll station in the world.”

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Before rehearsals begin for the tour in March Petty plans on producing an album for original Byrds bassist Chris Hillman, but once that wraps all of his attention will turn to the live show, which will feature opening act Joe Walsh at many of the U.S. dates. His proclamation that this may be the last major tour is likely to generate a lot of attention among fans and the press, but even his own bandmates are dubious of the claim. “I’ve been hearing him say that of the past 10 years,” says Campbell. “It would be a shame to stop playing while we’re at the peak of our abilities.” Tench feels the same way. “I don’t know what’s on Tom’s mind,” he says, “because he certainly hasn’t said that to me.”

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West Coast dates have yet to be announced, and as of now the only European date is a single show at London’s Hyde Park. “It’s just a matter of blocking out the time to go all the way over there and getting enough money to make it worthwhile with all our expenses,” says Campbell. “But I love going to Europe. I think we’ll probably go there again before we hang it up.” There’s also the matter of recording another studio album. “We’ll get around to that when we can,” says Petty. “But I’m in no hurry to do that now. I do have a contract where I owe my label a record every couple of years, but I always go over that and they always indulge me. I bring them over and show them what I’m working on so they know I’m not just doing nothing. They’re understanding.”

At the very least, Petty is already thinking about bringing Wildflowers on the road after the 40th anniversary tour winds down. “I started talking about that the other day and got a loud, ‘Shut up!'” he says. “Every time I bring it up it hits a wall somewhere. But we’re done in August. After that, it’s not out of the question I’d get the box set together and take it on the road to theaters before the end of the year.” The Heartbreakers are excited about the prospect. “I’d be more interested in an Echo tour than a Wildflowers one,” Tench says with a laugh. “But I love the idea of a Wildflowers tour. I think it’s brilliant. There’s just something about that record. Rick [Rubin]’s influence made it so spare and every little lick meant something. It was a very special record.”

In the meantime, they simply need to simply get though the 40th anniversary tour. “We’re very aware that time is finite,” says Petty. “At the end of the year we’ll say, ‘What do you feel like doing?’ Then we’ll figure out where to go next.”

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Chris Stapleton to Open for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on 40th Anniversary Tour

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are celebrating their 40th anniversary with a massive tour, and Chris Stapleton has been announced as the opening act for several dates.

The iconic rockers will kick off the road trek on April 20, 2017 in Oklahoma City, and it will run through July 27 before wrapping up in Queens, N.Y. Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh is slated to open most of the dates, but Stapleton has been tapped to open for the Heartbreakers on June 29 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, and will also support the group in Milwaukee on July 5 and 6 as part of Summerfest.

Ironically, the two men's introduction to one another may have come due to controversy after Petty's 2013 interview in which he blasted contemporary country music, calling it "bad rock with a fiddle."

“I don’t really see a George Jones or a Buck Owens or any anything that fresh coming up,” he lamented. “I’m sure there must be somebody doing it, but most of that music reminds me of rock in the middle 80s where it became incredibly generic and relied on videos.”

"I’m sure there are people playing country that are doing it well," he added, "but they’re just not getting the attention that the s—tier stuff gets.”

A then little-known Stapleton responded to Petty's remarks in an open letter , writing, "I think it’s safe to say most modern country artists, including me, would list you as an influence. Your recent comments lead me to believe you see room for improvement in modern country music. I, for one, would like to see you put you money where your mouth is in a tangible way. So, in the interest of making country music less 's–tty' (your words), I suggest a collaboration."

It's not clear if the two men ever connected for a collaboration, but perhaps they'll get the chance to perform together live on the upcoming tour.

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2017 Tom Petty 40th Anniversary Concert Tour

Openers: Joe Walsh, Chris Stapleton, Peter Wolf & The Lumineers (on select dates)

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Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers 40th Anniversary: 2017 Review

Tom Petty (with Mike Campbell on left) at Prudential Center, Newark, NJ, June 16, 2017 (Photo © Greg Brodsky)

Not many classic rock bands get to enjoy a 40th anniversary and even fewer are able to do so by selling out arenas wherever they play. In the case of  Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers , they’re celebrating the occasion with as polished a set as any band you’ll see.

For this (almost) career-spanning tour, they’re playing hits and a few deep tracks, ranging from their self-titled debut through their most recent, 2014’s  Hypnotic Eye , including  a lot of choice cuts from two of Petty’s solo efforts, 1989’s  Full Moon Fever and 1994’s  Wildflowers , which together accounted for eight of the show’s 19 songs.

Tom Petty at Prudential Center (Photo © Greg Brodsky)

At the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on June 16, 2017, the band symbolically kicked things off with the very first cut from that 1976 debut, “Rockin’ Around (With You).” The song has grown since the 2:26 studio version that was recorded by a bunch of unknown musicians who couldn’t have imagined the successful circumstances in which they’d be performing it today.

The crowd goes wild for “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” an unlikely Top 40 hit in 1993 and the set’s follow-up, 1994’s “You Don’t Know How it Feels,” with its familiar harmonica opening and laid-back pacing.

Watch “Mary Jane…”

Three of the four original Heartbreakers remain, a rare feat in rock ‘n’ roll: Petty’s fellow Floridians lead guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench, plus bassist Ron Blair. (It’s Blair’s second lengthy run that bookends a 20-year break.)

The rest of the brilliant, veteran lineup includes multi-instrumentalist Scott Thurston, who joined in 1991, and drummer Steve Ferrone (“the new guy because he’s only been with us 24 years,” says Petty).

Watch “I Won’t Back Down”

This wasn’t the first Petty concert for the vast majority of the suburban crowd, as the arena was dotted with vintage Petty concert tees. And, on songs like “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” the audience was well-familiar with his call-and-response when the music stopped halfway and the house lights came on. And the final minute-and-a-half is a highlight as the musicians take over amidst strobe lights.

Later, during a mini- Wildflowers set, Petty gets acoustic on the beautiful title cut as Ferrone supplies a steady beat.

Related: Our Album Rewind of Petty’s solo masterpiece

The mood continues with a lovely “Learning to Fly” as Petty allows the audience to sing the familiar chorus.

The set closer, “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” allows the band to stretch out.

The two-song encore ends, fittingly, back where it all started with “American Girl,” from that debut album. Though the song didn’t chart when it was released 40 years ago, it’s become, arguably, his most popular and enduring song.

“I was asked by a journalist how we’ve kept this going for so long,” he says. “And the answer was ‘the fans… they keep coming back.”

Related: Our interview with the author of Petty’s 2015 biography

Joe Walsh was the show’s opening act, his final one of the Heartbreakers’ anniversary tour. The ever-congenial performer played a 10-song set mixing solo stuff (“In the City,” “Rocky Mountain Way”), music from the James Gang (“The Bomber,” “Funk #49”) and an Eagles song (“Take It to the Limit”), with a full 10-piece band.

While singing the lyric “I have a good time” from his biggest solo hit, 1978’s “Life’s Been Good,” he says, “Yes, I do.” You believe him. There needs to be a reality show called  Being Joe Walsh because he sure seems to lead the good life.

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4 Comments so far

RIP Tom Petty! Sad, sad day!! My thoughts & prayers are with your family, band mates, & many friends & fans! You will be missed so badly! The true “heartbreaker”!! You’re breakin’ my heart!!

Tom Petty is certainly one of Rock’s biggest losses to come round in the last decade. And it seems like we miss him now even more than we ever dreamed that we might. He turned out to represent so much from what’s sadly evolved into a largely bygone era of great music.

That said, while TP & the Heartbreakers may have done a flawless and polished 40th anniversary show, their real polish came in their catalogue of flawless studio recordings. Unlike so many bands that you hear who could never quite get it right in the studio, and were often most famous for the energy of their live shows, The Heartbreakers crafted record after record of listenable and, most often, memorable, recording throughout the decades that they made “records.” I have most of them, and while they were a great musical band that captured much of their recorded sound live, it must be said that their live shows were a bit like watching a painting perform.

The day I heard Tom Petty died was the day the music died for me. I was 13 when his first album came out that’s all it took. I was hooked for life. My brother bought me that first album I played I over and over again. When I met my boyfriend now husband he and his family never heard of them. I was shocked. He took me to my first concert to see Tom petty and the heartbreakers with his aunt and uncle. They were all were hooked after that. They couldn’t believe they never heard of them before. When Tom died my whole family was calling me to tell me how sorry they were because they knew how much I loved him. He was the best and there will never help another one like him.

Good concert, but his 30th anniversary show which was filmed in Gainsville, Fl. his hometown is a better show. It’s only available at the PBS store, and it’s $19. Well worth it. Over two hours and the sound and video are incredible. Stevie was there and plays on 3 tunes. One of the best concert DVD’s ever.

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Tom Petty: Final Concert Tour Earned $61 Million

The GRAMMY winner's five-month 2017 trek traveled through 36 North American cities

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers wrapped an eventful 40th-anniversary tour with three momentous shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in late September. Little did fans know at the time it would be the final opportunity to see the rock legend in concert, as days later Petty died on Oct. 2.

According to Billboard, Petty's Hollywood Bowl shows on Sept. 21, 22 and 25 were the highest-grossing dates on his blockbuster North American jaunt, selling 49,217 sold tickets and grossing $5.3 million. In all, the group's five-month tour through 36 North American cities grossed a robust sum of more than $61 million.

Designed to commemorate the GRAMMY-winning band's entire four-decade career, the tour netted approximately 638,000 fans to 44 headlining gigs throughout the United States and Canada.

In an interview with Rolling Stone prior to his death, Petty admitted that he was relishing the shows on the celebratory tour.

"I've really enjoyed being onstage so much, this tour," said Petty, who was honored as the 2017 MusiCares Person of the Year last February. "I don't know exactly why, but it's so much fun, you know? This is an extraordinary bunch of musicians. It's very rare. I don't think that's always been in the front of our minds, but lately, it feels that way." Ozzy Osbourne: Farewell World Tour To Launch In 2018

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly . Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly .

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube . This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg , Doggystyle . This is for Illmatic , this is for Nas . We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal , Anna Wise and Thundercat ). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift 's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN ., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers .

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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Photo: Rebecca Sapp

5 Things We Learned From GRAMMY Museum's New The Power Of Song Exhibit, A Celebration Of Songwriters From Tom Petty To Taylor Swift

Nile Rodgers, Jimmy Jam, Smokey Robinson and more provide deep insights into their hit collaborations and creative process at GRAMMY Museum's The Power of Song: A Songwriters Hall of Fame Exhibit, open from April 26 through Sept. 4.

Since its founding in 1969, the Songwriters Hall of Fame has been celebrating the great songwriters and composers of our time. In 2010, it found a physical home at Downtown Los Angeles' GRAMMY Museum.

Now, the GRAMMY Museum is adding to that legacy with a special expanded exhibit , which dives deep into the history of songwriting and recorded music in the United States — as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame and its inductees' role in it. Whether you're a songwriter or musician who loves the creative process, a history nerd, or simply a music lover, this exhibit is for you.

When you enter The Power Of Song, you'll hear the voices of legendary Songwriter Hall of Fame inductees and GRAMMY winners — including Nile Rodgers , Carole King , Diane Warren , Smokey Robinson and Jimmy Jam — discussing their creative process and some of the biggest songs they've written. Take a seat on the couch to absorb all their wisdom in the deeply informative and inspiring original short film.

Turn to the right, and you'll find a timeline across the entire wall, explaining the origins and key points around songwriting and recorded music in the U.S. On the other wall, pop on the headphones provided to enjoy a video of memorable Hall of Fame ceremony performances. One interactive video interface near the entrance allows you to hear "song highlights," and another allows you to explore the entire Songwriters Hall of Fame database.

The exhibit is filled with a treasure trove of handwritten song lyrics from Taylor Swift , Cyndi Lauper , Tom Petty and many more, as well as iconic artifacts, including Daft Punk 's helmets, a classy Nile Rodgers GRAMMY look, and guitars from Bill Withers , Tom Petty , John Mellencamp and Toby Keith .

Below, take a look at five things we learned from The Power Of Song: A Songwriters Hall Of Fame Exhibit, which will be at the GRAMMY Museum from April 26 through Sept. 4.

Daft Punk Rerecorded "Get Lucky" To Fit Nile Rodgers' Funky Guitar

Legendary funk pioneer and superproducer Nile Rodgers is the current Chairman of the SHOF and has an active presence at the exhibit. One case features the disco-esque lime green Dior tuxedo Rodgers wore to the 2023 GRAMMY Awards, along with the shiny metallic helmets of French dance duo Daft Punk, who collaborated with Rodgers on their GRAMMY-winning 2013 album, Random Access Memories .

Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk and Rodgers had forged a friendship and been wanting to collab for years prior to 2013's Record Of The Year-winning smash "Get Lucky." When they finally connected and Bangalter and de Homem-Christo played the CHIC founder the demo for "Get Lucky," he asked to hear it again with everything muted except the drum track, so he could create the perfect guitar lick for it.

Bangalter and de Homem-Christo decided to essentially re-record the whole song to fit Rodgers' guitar, which joyously drives the track — and carried it to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, Daft Punk's first Top 5 hit.

***Photo:** Rebecca Sapp*

Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis Set Up Their Studio The "Wrong" Way Because Of Prince

In the exhibit film, Jimmy Jam tells several stories about working with — and learning from — Prince . He recalls how he and Terry Lewis watched Prince work and record everything "in the red," so they set up their Minneapolis studio to follow his lead. A sound engineer told them it was too loud, but that ended up being the sound that artists like Janet Jackson and Usher came to them for. It was a "happy mistake," as Jam put it, that helped their legendary careers as a powerhouse production duo take off.

Prince's dogmatic, tireless work ethic also rubbed off on the powerhouse pair. One rehearsal, the Purple One kept pressing Jam to do more, which resulted in him playing two instruments, singing and hitting the choreography from behind his keyboard. "He saw that I could do more than I thought I could; he saw me better than I saw myself," he reflected.

"God Bless America" Composer Irving Berlin Didn't Read Music

In his 50 year-career, Irving Berlin wrote over 1000 songs, many of which defined American popular music for the better part of the 20th century. Along with penning "God Bless America," "White Christmas," "Puttin' on the Ritz," and "There's No Business Like Show Business" (among many other classics), he wrote 17 full Broadway musical scores and contributed songs to six more plays.

Berlin also wrote scores for early Hollywood musicals starring the likes of Ginger Rodgers, Fred Astaire, Marilyn Monroe, and Bing Crosby. He made a lasting, indelible mark on music, theater, film and American culture writ large.

Rather astonishingly, the widely celebrated American Tin Pan Alley-era composer was self-taught and didn't read sheet music. His family immigrated to New York from Imperial Russia when he was 5 years old, and when he was just 13, his father died, so he busked on the streets and worked as a singing waiter to help his family out.

In 1907, at 19, he had his first song published, and just four years later penned his first international hit, "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Berlin had a natural musicality and played music by ear in the key of F-sharp, with the help of his trusted upright transposing piano, a rare instrument that had a mechanism allowing him to shift into different keys. His "trick piano," as he called it, where many of his unforgettable songs first came to life, is on display at the exhibit.

Read More: GRAMMY Rewind: Smokey Robinson Accepts A GRAMMY On Behalf Of The Temptations In 1973

Smokey Robinson Didn't Expect "My Girl" To Become A Timeless Hit

Smokey Robinson was an important part of Motown's hit-making factory as a singer, songwriter and producer. In the exhibit film, he discusses "My Girl," one of his classic tunes, which he wrote and produced for the Temptations in 1965.

"I had no idea it would become what it would become," he said.

He says that people often ask him why he didn't record the unforgettable song with his group the Miracles instead of "giving it away" to the Temptations, but he never regretted his decision. Instead, he's honored to have created music that stands the test of time and means so much to so many people.

Robinson joked that the Temptations' then-lead singer David Ruffin 's gruff voice scared girls into going out with him. Really, he loved Ruffin's voice, and thought he'd sound great singing a sweet love song like "My Girl." Safe to say he was right.

After World War II, Pop Music Changed Forever

Prior to World War II, American music operated as a singular mainstream market, and New York's Tin Pan Alley songwriters competed to make the next pop or Broadway hit. In a post-World War II America, especially when the early Baby Boomer generation became teenagers and young adults in the '60s and '70s, tastes changed and new styles of pop and pop songwriting emerged. As rock shook up popular culture, Tin Pan Alley gave way to a new era of young songwriters, many who worked out of just two buildings in midtown Manhattan, 1619 Broadway (the Brill Building) and 1650 Broadway.

In this richly creative and collaborative environment, powerhouse songwriting duos began to emerge and reshape pop music, challenging and balancing each other — and creating a ton of hits in the process. The hit-making duos of this diversified pop era included Burt Bacharach and Hal David ( Dionne Warrick 's "That's What Friends Are For"), Carole King and Gerry Goffin ( Little Eva 's "The Loco-Motion"), Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil ( the Righteous Brothers ' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'") and Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich ( the Ronettes ' "Be My Baby" and the Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me," both in collaboration with Phil Spector ). In fact, there are far too many classics penned by these four prolific songwriter duos to list here.

While there are still songwriters that pen big hit after hit for pop stars ( Max Martin is still at it, as is his protege Oscar Görres ), the dynamics in the industry have continued to shift with singers taking on more creative power themselves. Today's pop stars — including Ariana Grande , Dua Lipa and Taylor Swift — have found success co-writing with their own trusted teams of songwriters and producers. But as this new exhibit shows, it doesn't matter who is behind the pen — the power of song is mighty.

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Photo:  Rachel Kupfer  

A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea

James Brown changed the sound of popular music when he found the power of the one and unleashed the funk with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag." Today, funk lives on in many forms, including these exciting bands from across the world.

It's rare that a genre can be traced back to a single artist or group, but for funk, that was James Brown . The Godfather of Soul coined the phrase and style of playing known as "on the one," where the first downbeat is emphasized, instead of the typical second and fourth beats in pop, soul and other styles. As David Cheal eloquently explains, playing on the one "left space for phrases and riffs, often syncopated around the beat, creating an intricate, interlocking grid which could go on and on." You know a funky bassline when you hear it; its fat chords beg your body to get up and groove.

Brown's 1965 classic, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," became one of the first funk hits, and has been endlessly sampled and covered over the years, along with his other groovy tracks. Of course, many other funk acts followed in the '60s, and the genre thrived in the '70s and '80s as the disco craze came and went, and the originators of hip-hop and house music created new music from funk and disco's strong, flexible bones built for dancing.

Legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins learned the power of the one from playing in Brown's band, and brought it to George Clinton , who created P-funk, an expansive, Afrofuturistic , psychedelic exploration of funk with his various bands and projects, including Parliament-Funkadelic . Both Collins and Clinton remain active and funkin', and have offered their timeless grooves to collabs with younger artists, including Kali Uchis , Silk Sonic , and Omar Apollo; and Kendrick Lamar , Flying Lotus , and Thundercat , respectively.

In the 1980s, electro-funk was born when artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Man Parrish, and Egyptian Lover began making futuristic beats with the Roland TR-808 drum machine — often with robotic vocals distorted through a talk box. A key distinguishing factor of electro-funk is a de-emphasis on vocals, with more phrases than choruses and verses. The sound influenced contemporaneous hip-hop, funk and electronica, along with acts around the globe, while current acts like Chromeo, DJ Stingray, and even Egyptian Lover himself keep electro-funk alive and well.

Today, funk lives in many places, with its heavy bass and syncopated grooves finding way into many nooks and crannies of music. There's nu-disco and boogie funk, nodding back to disco bands with soaring vocals and dance floor-designed instrumentation. G-funk continues to influence Los Angeles hip-hop, with innovative artists like Dam-Funk and Channel Tres bringing the funk and G-funk, into electro territory. Funk and disco-centered '70s revival is definitely having a moment, with acts like Ghost Funk Orchestra and Parcels , while its sparkly sprinklings can be heard in pop from Dua Lipa , Doja Cat , and, in full "Soul Train" character, Silk Sonic . There are also acts making dreamy, atmospheric music with a solid dose of funk, such as Khruangbin ’s global sonic collage.

There are many bands that play heavily with funk, creating lush grooves designed to get you moving. Read on for a taste of five current modern funk and nu-disco artists making band-led uptempo funk built for the dance floor. Be sure to press play on the Spotify playlist above, and check out GRAMMY.com's playlist on Apple Music , Amazon Music and Pandora .

Say She She

Aptly self-described as "discodelic soul," Brooklyn-based seven-piece Say She She make dreamy, operatic funk, led by singer-songwriters Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. Their '70s girl group-inspired vocal harmonies echo, sooth and enchant as they cover poignant topics with feminist flair.

While they’ve been active in the New York scene for a few years, they’ve gained wider acclaim for the irresistible music they began releasing this year, including their debut album, Prism . Their 2022 debut single "Forget Me Not" is an ode to ground-breaking New York art collective Guerilla Girls, and " Norma " is their protest anthem in response to the news that Roe vs. Wade could be (and was) overturned. The band name is a nod to funk legend Nile Rodgers , from the "Le freak, c'est chi" exclamation in Chic's legendary tune "Le Freak."

Moniquea 's unique voice oozes confidence, yet invites you in to dance with her to the super funky boogie rhythms. The Pasadena, California artist was raised on funk music; her mom was in a cover band that would play classics like Aretha Franklin’ s "Get It Right" and Gladys Knight ’s "Love Overboard." Moniquea released her first boogie funk track at 20 and, in 2011, met local producer XL Middelton — a bonafide purveyor of funk. She's been a star artist on his MoFunk Records ever since, and they've collabed on countless tracks, channeling West Coast energy with a heavy dose of G-funk, sunny lyrics and upbeat, roller disco-ready rhythms.

Her latest release is an upbeat nod to classic West Coast funk, produced by Middleton, and follows her February 2022 groovy, collab-filled album, On Repeat .

Shiro Schwarz

Shiro Schwarz is a Mexico City-based duo, consisting of Pammela Rojas and Rafael Marfil, who helped establish a modern funk scene in the richly creative Mexican metropolis. On "Electrify" — originally released in 2016 on Fat Beats Records and reissued in 2021 by MoFunk — Shiro Schwarz's vocals playfully contrast each other, floating over an insistent, upbeat bassline and an '80s throwback electro-funk rhythm with synth flourishes.

Their music manages to be both nostalgic and futuristic — and impossible to sit still to. 2021 single "Be Kind" is sweet, mellow and groovy, perfect chic lounge funk. Shiro Schwarz’s latest track, the joyfully nostalgic "Hey DJ," is a collab with funkstress Saucy Lady and U-Key.

L'Impératrice

L'Impératrice (the empress in French) are a six-piece Parisian group serving an infectiously joyful blend of French pop, nu-disco, funk and psychedelia. Flore Benguigui's vocals are light and dreamy, yet commanding of your attention, while lyrics have a feminist touch.

During their energetic live sets, L'Impératrice members Charles de Boisseguin and Hagni Gwon (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), and Tom Daveau (drums) deliver extended instrumental jam sessions to expand and connect their music. Gaugué emphasizes the thick funky bass, and Benguigui jumps around the stage while sounding like an angel. L’Impératrice’s latest album, 2021’s Tako Tsubo , is a sunny, playful French disco journey.

Franc Moody

Franc Moody 's bio fittingly describes their music as "a soul funk and cosmic disco sound." The London outfit was birthed by friends Ned Franc and Jon Moody in the early 2010s, when they were living together and throwing parties in North London's warehouse scene. In 2017, the group grew to six members, including singer and multi-instrumentalist Amber-Simone.

Their music feels at home with other electro-pop bands like fellow Londoners Jungle and Aussie act Parcels. While much of it is upbeat and euphoric, Franc Moody also dips into the more chilled, dreamy realm, such as the vibey, sultry title track from their recently released Into the Ether .

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Living Legends: Billy Idol On Survival, Revival & Breaking Out Of The Cage

"One foot in the past and one foot into the future," Billy Idol says, describing his decade-spanning career in rock. "We’ve got the best of all possible worlds because that has been the modus operandi of Billy Idol."

Living Legends is a series that spotlights icons in music still going strong today. This week, GRAMMY.com spoke with Billy Idol about his latest EP,   Cage , and continuing to rock through decades of changing tastes.

Billy Idol is a true rock 'n' roll survivor who has persevered through cultural shifts and personal struggles. While some may think of Idol solely for "Rebel Yell" and "White Wedding," the singer's musical influences span genres and many of his tunes are less turbo-charged than his '80s hits would belie.  

Idol first made a splash in the latter half of the '70s with the British punk band Generation X. In the '80s, he went on to a solo career combining rock, pop, and punk into a distinct sound that transformed him and his musical partner, guitarist Steve Stevens, into icons. They have racked up multiple GRAMMY nominations, in addition to one gold, one double platinum, and four platinum albums thanks to hits like "Cradle Of Love," "Flesh For Fantasy," and "Eyes Without A Face." 

But, unlike many legacy artists, Idol is anything but a relic. Billy continues to produce vital Idol music by collaborating with producers and songwriters — including Miley Cyrus — who share his forward-thinking vision. He will play a five-show Vegas residency in November, and filmmaker Jonas Akerlund is working on a documentary about Idol’s life. 

His latest release is Cage , the second in a trilogy of annual four-song EPs. The title track is a classic Billy Idol banger expressing the desire to free himself from personal constraints and live a better life. Other tracks on Cage incorporate metallic riffing and funky R&B grooves. 

Idol continues to reckon with his demons — they both grappled with addiction during the '80s — and the singer is open about those struggles on the record and the page. (Idol's 2014 memoir Dancing With Myself , details a 1990 motorcycle accident that nearly claimed a leg, and how becoming a father steered him to reject hard drugs. "Bitter Taste," from his last EP, The Roadside , reflects on surviving the accident.)

Although Idol and Stevens split in the late '80s — the skilled guitarist fronted Steve Stevens & The Atomic Playboys, and collaborated with Michael Jackson, Rick Ocasek, Vince Neil, and Harold Faltermeyer (on the GRAMMY-winning "Top Gun Anthem") —  their common history and shared musical bond has been undeniable. The duo reunited in 2001 for an episode of " VH1 Storytellers " and have been back in the saddle for two decades. Their union remains one of the strongest collaborations in rock 'n roll history.

While there is recognizable personnel and a distinguishable sound throughout a lot of his work, Billy Idol has always pushed himself to try different things. Idol discusses his musical journey, his desire to constantly move forward, and the strong connection that he shares with Stevens. 

Steve has said that you like to mix up a variety of styles, yet everyone assumes you're the "Rebel Yell"/"White Wedding" guy. But if they really listen to your catalog, it's vastly different.

Yeah, that's right. With someone like Steve Stevens, and then back in the day Keith Forsey producing... [Before that] Generation X actually did move around inside punk rock. We didn't stay doing just the Ramones two-minute music. We actually did a seven-minute song. [ Laughs ]. We did always mix things up. 

Then when I got into my solo career, that was the fun of it. With someone like Steve, I knew what he could do. I could see whatever we needed to do, we could nail it. The world was my oyster musically. 

"Cage" is a classic-sounding Billy Idol rocker, then "Running From The Ghost" is almost metal, like what the Devil's Playground album was like back in the mid-2000s. "Miss Nobody" comes out of nowhere with this pop/R&B flavor. What inspired that?

We really hadn't done anything like that since something like "Flesh For Fantasy" [which] had a bit of an R&B thing about it. Back in the early days of Billy Idol, "Hot In The City" and "Mony Mony" had girls [singing] on the backgrounds. 

We always had a bit of R&B really, so it was actually fun to revisit that. We just hadn't done anything really quite like that for a long time. That was one of the reasons to work with someone like Sam Hollander [for the song "Rita Hayworth"] on The Roadside . We knew we could go [with him] into an R&B world, and he's a great songwriter and producer. That's the fun of music really, trying out these things and seeing if you can make them stick. 

I listen to new music by veteran artists and debate that with some people. I'm sure you have those fans that want their nostalgia, and then there are some people who will embrace the newer stuff. Do you find it’s a challenge to reach people with new songs?

Obviously, what we're looking for is, how do we somehow have one foot in the past and one foot into the future? We’ve got the best of all possible worlds because that has been the modus operandi of Billy Idol. 

You want to do things that are true to you, and you don't just want to try and do things that you're seeing there in the charts today. I think that we're achieving it with things like "Running From The Ghost" and "Cage" on this new EP. I think we’re managing to do both in a way. 

** Obviously, "Running From The Ghost" is about addiction, all the stuff that you went through, and in "Cage" you’re talking about  freeing yourself from a lot of personal shackles. Was there any one moment in your life that made you really thought I have to not let this weigh me down anymore ? **

I mean, things like the motorcycle accident I had, that was a bit of a wake up call way back. It was 32 years ago. But there were things like that, years ago, that gradually made me think about what I was doing with my life. I didn't want to ruin it, really. I didn't want to throw it away, and it made [me] be less cavalier. 

I had to say to myself, about the drugs and stuff, that I've been there and I've done it. There’s no point in carrying on doing it. You couldn't get any higher. You didn't want to throw your life away casually, and I was close to doing that. It took me a bit of time, but then gradually I was able to get control of myself to a certain extent [with] drugs and everything. And I think Steve's done the same thing. We're on a similar path really, which has been great because we're in the same boat in terms of lyrics and stuff. 

So a lot of things like that were wake up calls. Even having grandchildren and just watching my daughter enlarging her family and everything; it just makes you really positive about things and want to show a positive side to how you're feeling, about where you're going. We've lived with the demons so long, we've found a way to live with them. We found a way to be at peace with our demons, in a way. Maybe not completely, but certainly to where we’re enjoying what we do and excited about it.

[When writing] "Running From The Ghost" it was easy to go, what was the ghost for us? At one point, we were very drug addicted in the '80s. And Steve in particular is super sober [now]. I mean, I still vape pot and stuff. I don’t know how he’s doing it, but it’s incredible. All I want to be able to do is have a couple of glasses of wine at a restaurant or something. I can do that now.

I think working with people that are super talented, you just feel confident. That is a big reason why you open up and express yourself more because you feel comfortable with what's around you.

Did you watch Danny Boyle's recent Sex Pistols mini-series?

I did, yes.

You had a couple of cameos; well, an actor who portrayed you did. How did you react to it? How accurate do you think it was in portraying that particular time period?

I love Jonesy’s book, I thought his book was incredible. It's probably one of the best bio books really. It was incredible and so open. I was looking forward to that a lot.

It was as if [the show] kind of stayed with Steve [Jones’ memoir] about halfway through, and then departed from it. [John] Lydon, for instance, was never someone I ever saw acting out; he's more like that today. I never saw him do something like jump up in the room and run around going crazy. The only time I saw him ever do that was when they signed the recording deal with Virgin in front of Buckingham Palace. Whereas Sid Vicious was always acting out; he was always doing something in a horrible way or shouting at someone. I don't remember John being like that. I remember him being much more introverted.

But then I watched interviews with some of the actors about coming to grips with the parts they were playing. And they were saying, we knew punk rock happened but just didn't know any of the details. So I thought well, there you go . If ["Pistol" is]  informing a lot of people who wouldn't know anything about punk rock, maybe that's what's good about it.

Maybe down the road John Lydon will get the chance to do John's version of the Pistols story. Maybe someone will go a lot deeper into it and it won't be so surface. But maybe you needed this just to get people back in the flow.

We had punk and metal over here in the States, but it feels like England it was legitimately more dangerous. British society was much more rigid.

It never went [as] mega in America. It went big in England. It exploded when the Pistols did that interview with [TV host Bill] Grundy, that lorry truck driver put his boot through his own TV, and all the national papers had "the filth and the fury" [headlines].

We went from being unknown to being known overnight. We waited a year, Generation X. We even told them [record labels] no for nine months to a year. Every record company wanted their own punk rock group. So it went really mega in England, and it affected the whole country – the style, the fashions, everything. I mean, the Ramones were massive in England. Devo had a No. 1 song [in England] with "Satisfaction" in '77. Actually, Devo was as big as or bigger than the Pistols.

You were ahead of the pop-punk thing that happened in the late '90s, and a lot of it became tongue-in-cheek by then. It didn't have the same sense of rebelliousness as the original movement. It was more pop.

It had become a style. There was a famous book in England called Revolt Into Style — and that's what had happened, a revolt that turned into style which then they were able to duplicate in their own way. Even recently, Billie Joe [Armstrong] did his own version of "Gimme Some Truth," the Lennon song we covered way back in 1977.

When we initially were making [punk] music, it hadn't become accepted yet. It was still dangerous and turned into a style that people were used to. We were still breaking barriers.

You have a band called Generation Sex with Steve Jones and Paul Cook. I assume you all have an easier time playing Pistols and Gen X songs together now and not worrying about getting spit on like back in the '70s?

Yeah, definitely. When I got to America I told the group I was putting it together, "No one spits at the audience."

We had five years of being spat on [in the UK], and it was revolting. And they spat at you if they liked you. If they didn't like it they smashed your gear up. One night, I remember I saw blood on my T-shirt, and I think Joe Strummer got meningitis when spit went in his mouth.

You had to go through a lot to become successful, it wasn't like you just kind of got up there and did a couple of gigs. I don't think some young rock bands really get that today.

With punk going so mega in England, we definitely got a leg up. We still had a lot of work to get where we got to, and rightly so because you find out that you need to do that. A lot of groups in the old days would be together three to five years before they ever made a record, and that time is really important. In a way, what was great about punk rock for me was it was very much a learning period. I really learned a lot [about] recording music and being in a group and even writing songs.

Then when I came to America, it was a flow, really. I also really started to know what I wanted Billy Idol to be. It took me a little bit, but I kind of knew what I wanted Billy Idol to be. And even that took a while to let it marinate.

You and Miley Cyrus have developed a good working relationship in the last several years. How do you think her fans have responded to you, and your fans have responded to her?

I think they're into it. It's more the record company that she had didn't really get "Night Crawling"— it was one of the best songs on Plastic Hearts , and I don't think they understood that. They wanted to go with Dua Lipa, they wanted to go with the modern, young acts, and I don't think they realized that that song was resonating with her fans. Which is a shame really because, with Andrew Watt producing, it's a hit song.

But at the same time, I enjoyed doing it. It came out really good and it's very Billy Idol. In fact, I think it’s more Billy Idol than Miley Cyrus. I think it shows you where Andrew Watt was. He was excited about doing a Billy Idol track. She's fun to work with. She’s a really great person and she works at her singing — I watched her rehearsing for the Super Bowl performance she gave. She rehearsed all Saturday morning, all Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning and it was that afternoon. I have to admire her fortitude. She really cares.

I remember when you went on " Viva La Bam "  back in 2005 and decided to give Bam Margera’s Lamborghini a new sunroof by taking a power saw to it. Did he own that car? Was that a rental?

I think it was his car.

Did he get over it later on?

He loved it. [ Laughs ] He’s got a wacky sense of humor. He’s fantastic, actually. I’m really sorry to see what he's been going through just lately. He's going through a lot, and I wish him the best. He's a fantastic person, and it's a shame that he's struggling so much with his addictions. I know what it's like. It's not easy.

Musically, what is the synergy like with you guys during the past 10 years, doing Kings and Queens of the Underground and this new stuff? What is your working relationship like now in this more sober, older, mature version of you two as opposed to what it was like back in the '80s?

In lots of ways it’s not so different because we always wrote the songs together, we always talked about what we're going to do together. It was just that we were getting high at the same time.We're just not getting [that way now] but we're doing all the same things.

We're still talking about things, still [planning] things:What are we going to do next? How are we going to find new people to work with? We want to find new producers. Let's be a little bit more timely about putting stuff out.That part of our relationship is the same, you know what I mean? That never got affected. We just happened to be overloading in the '80s.

The relationship’s… matured and it's carrying on being fruitful, and I think that's pretty amazing. Really, most people don't get to this place. Usually, they hate each other by now. [ Laughs ] We also give each other space. We're not stopping each other doing things outside of what we’re working on together. All of that enables us to carry on working together. I love and admire him. I respect him. He's been fantastic. I mean, just standing there on stage with him is always a treat. And he’s got an immensely great sense of humor. I think that's another reason why we can hang together after all this time because we've got the sense of humor to enable us to go forward.

There's a lot of fan reaction videos online, and I noticed a lot of younger women like "Rebel Yell" because, unlike a lot of other '80s alpha male rock tunes, you're talking about satisfying your lover.

It was about my girlfriend at the time, Perri Lister. It was about how great I thought she was, how much I was in love with her, and how great women are, how powerful they are.

It was a bit of a feminist anthem in a weird way. It was all about how relationships can free you and add a lot to your life. It was a cry of love, nothing to do with the Civil War or anything like that. Perri was a big part of my life, a big part of being Billy Idol. I wanted to write about it. I'm glad that's the effect.

Is there something you hope people get out of the songs you've been doing over the last 10 years? Do you find yourself putting out a message that keeps repeating?

Well, I suppose, if anything, is that you can come to terms with your life, you can keep a hold of it. You can work your dreams into reality in a way and, look, a million years later, still be enjoying it.

The only reason I'm singing about getting out of the cage is because I kicked out of the cage years ago. I joined Generation X when I said to my parents, "I'm leaving university, and I'm joining a punk rock group." And they didn't even know what a punk rock group was. Years ago, I’d write things for myself that put me on this path, so that maybe in 2022 I could sing something like "Cage" and be owning this territory and really having a good time. This is the life I wanted.

The original UK punk movement challenged societal norms. Despite all the craziness going on throughout the world, it seems like a lot of modern rock bands are afraid to do what you guys were doing. Do you think we'll see a shift in that?

Yeah.  Art usually reacts to things, so I would think eventually there will be a massive reaction to the pop music that’s taken over — the middle of the road music, and then this kind of right wing politics. There will be a massive reaction if there's not already one. I don’t know where it will come from exactly. You never know who's gonna do [it].

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Tour dates for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' 40th Anniversary Tour

• Steve Spears

If you've never seen Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers perform live, then these 2017 tour dates are your next big chance. Petty has announced a 30-city tour to mark the 40th anniversary of the band's debut album.

Petty announced the tour news Thursday night on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon . (It's a funny clip worth watching). A must-see event, though, is the 2007 documentary called Runnin' Down a Dream , directed by Peter Bogdanovich . It's running' right now on streaming Netflix. (I've seen it maybe - oh - 10 times in the last few months. But be prepared to digest it in chunks. It's about 4 hours long).

Joe Walsh will be the opening act on most of the tour stops ( Chris Stapleton will open others), which includes a May 6 date at Tampa's Amalie Arena. Tickets for most shows go on sale Dec. 16 at 10 a.m. Pre-sale for Petty fan club members begins Dec. 14 at 10 a.m.

Sad to see his hometown of Gainesville, Fla., didn't make the full list of tour dates. That's a bucket-list show for me.

2017 TOUR DATES - TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS:

April 20 – Oklahoma City, OK at Chesapeake Energy Center

April 22 – Dallas, TX at American Airlines Arena

April 23 – Little Rock, AR at Verizon Wireless Arena

April 25 – Nashville, TN at Bridgesone Arena

April 27 – Atlanta, GA at Philips Arena

April 29 – Houston, TX at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

May 2 – Austin, TX at Frank Erwin Center

May 5 – West Palm Beach, FL at Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre

May 6 – Tampa, FL at Amalie Arena

May 8 – Memphis, TN at FedEx Forum

May 10 - Champaign, IL at StateFarm Center*

May 12 – St. Louis, MO at Scottrade Center

May 13 – Indianapolis, IN at Klipsch Music Center

May 29 – Morrison, CO at Red Rocks Amphitheatre

May 30 – Morrison, CO at Red Rocks Amphitheatre

June 2 – Kansas City, MO at Sprint Center

June 3 – St. Paul, MN at Xcel Energy Center

June 5 – Des Moines, IA at Wells Fargo Arena

June 7 – Columbus, OH at Schottenstein Center

June 9 – Pittsburgh, PA at PPG Paints Arena

June 10 – Cleveland, OH at Quicken Loans Arena

June 12 – Cincinnati, OH at US Bank Arena

June 14 – Hartford, CT at XFINITY Theatre

June 16 – Newark, NJ at Prudential Center

June 17 – Hunter, NY at Mountain Jam Festival

June 29 – Chicago, IL at Wrigley Field

July 1 – Philadelphia, PA at Wells Fargo Arena

July 2 – Canandaigua, NY at CMAC Performing Arts Center

July 5 – Milwaukee, WI at Marcus Marcus Amphitheater, Summerfest**

July 6 – Milwaukee, WI at Marcus Marcus Amphitheater- Summerfest**

July 18 – Clarkson, MI at DTE Energy Music Theatre

July 20 – Boston, MA at TD Garden

July 23 – Washington, D.C. at Verizon Center

July 26 – Queens, NY at Forest Hills Stadium

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July 27 – Queens, NY at Forest Hills Stadium

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Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, one of the most iconic bands in American music history, have announced the first dates of their 40th Anniversary Tour, which includes at stop at American Airlines Center on Saturday, April 22nd. Joe Walsh will appear as very special guest.

Dates & Times

• Apr 22, 2017 - 8PM Add to cal

More Information

• Date Apr 22 , 2017
• Time 8:00 PM
• Doors 6:30pm
• On Sale Buy Now

40th Anniversary Tour Merch Special Offer

Today marks one year since opening night of the 40th Anniversary Tour of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers! In recognition the store is offering a 40th Anniversary key chain with any purchase of 2017 tour merchandise through April 29th. Head to  https://bit.ly/2JcIBiv Only limited quantities of tour items remain so get them while supplies last -- be on the lookout for new Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers merchandise coming soon to the online store!

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