An Evening with Tom Petty

Day 14

One of my favorite music artists is Tom Petty. Sure, he doesn't have the greatest voice in the world but his music is just awesome.

The first song I heard of his was his duet with Stevie Nicks and I kinda dug that song. I next saw his freaky video for "Don’t Come Around Here No More", (which was a play on Alice in Wonderland and the memorable ending with them all eating cake which was Alice). I liked the song but never totally got into Petty until I heard the song " I Won’t Back Down". I bought that album (Full Moon Fever) and picked up his next album and also his collaborations with the Traveling Wilburys.

Since then I have picked up every single album that he has come out with faithfully. I was quite excited to hear that he was coming on tour and he made a stop in Salt Lake City to support his "The Last DJ" album.



The only problem was that Kristy was 8 months pregnant with Logan. We went to the doctors and asked if that would be a problem if he went to a loud concert and the doctor assured us that he wouldn’t be hurt. It would be like us sticking our head in a bathtub full of water. So we went! The opening act was Jackson Browne and we missed it completely because of the stupid parking. We drove all over trying to find where we parked and we finally found a place. It charged us 5 stinking bucks to park and it was a couple of blocks to the E Center. We trucked along and I got in line to purchase a shirt and we made it to our seats as they were closing. We had fantastic seats. Any seat would be cool because really, no matter where you are, you can hear and feel the music.



The best part of concerts, other than the acts themselves, is people watching. There were a few kids younger than us but most were a little older. Most of them looked like hippies. Then the concert started and it was a fantastic concert. Tom was very personal, thanking us after each song he sang. He also made a point that no one (company) was sponsoring him and then he went into "Joe". We also saw a lot of fans getting kicked out for lighting up a little Mary Jane. Speaking of that, by far, the best song was "Last Dance With Mary Jane". Logan certainly kicked around a bit when the concert first started but then calmed down towards the end.

Here is the setlist:
NOVEMBER 4, 2002 - SALT LAKE CITY, UT
The Last DJ
Love Is A Long Road
Have Love Will Travel
Free Fallin'
Joe
When A Kid Goes Bad
Shadow Of A Doubt
I Won't Back Down
You Don't Know How It Feels
Feel A Whole Lot Better
Can't Stop The Sun
A Woman In Love
The Waiting
King’s Highway
Yer So Bad
Lost Children
Refugee
Running Down A Dream
ENCORE:
You Wreck Me
Oh Carol

It's too bad that Tom has not been back to Salt Lake since.