This was about 20 minutes before they turned down the lights and the opening act, Steve Winwood, took the stage. He's an English guitarist who had a few hits in the 80s (remember Higher Love or Back in the High Life Again) and, for the most part, he and his band were great to listen to while the arena filled with people.
They played this great blues tune near the end of their set where he went for a few bars of a solo, stepped back and then turned up. Once my ears starting hurting and the paint was peeling off the walls I knew I was at a real rock concert. Unfortunately, it was so good he never should have followed it up with 2 or 3 more songs. They completely deflated your sense of awesomeness.
Then the big dogs rolled out and turned the on-stage light show on. I had never realized it before this concert of mostly hits but I know a lot of Tom Petty songs and I don't even own any of his albums (this will change). And the even cooler thing is that a lot of people know a lot of his songs. Last Dance With Mary Jane was probably my unqualified favorite. Remember the creepy video, anybody?
I was having a really, really good time until I realized (during Free Fallin') that I was standing with about 19,000 fellow music fans and they were all singing. Way cool...definitely inspiring...and the concert just got better from that point.
The Star Tribune wrote a good review for this event (read it here) and my favorite line is near the end when the reviewer states:
"Even though Petty was playing mostly familiar mid-tempo radio hits, the music had more immediacy, oomph and impact live."Nail on the head, sir. I hope this isn't my last TP show.
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