Tom Petty -- Post-Show

Had a fantastic time at the Tom Petty concert last night. Great, great show from Petty and the Heartbreakers. The set list was very similar to the one I posted yesterday, except they cut "Gloria" out of the encore, and, in a bit of a disappointment, Steve Winwood didn't join him for a couple of songs, as he has been doing frequently throughout the tour. (I'll print the full set list here once it gets posted on Petty's website, for future historians to appreciate.) (EDIT: Apparently, they're posting just about every set list from this tour except for the show I went to.)

But I finally got to see Petty live, and that was all that mattered. He rocked my face quite handily.

A few notes on the show:

--The approach to the Verizon Amphitheatre could not have been more poorly laid out. You would think: gigantic amphitheatre, approximately 20,000 capacity... perhaps some consideration should be made to the amount of traffic this will generate. But no: for about the last mile and a half, there's just a little two-lane country road in the middle of pastures and goat farms leading up to the venue. We were stuck in a line of barely-moving cars for almost forty damn minutes, which resulted in me missing almost the entirety of Winwood's set. All I caught were the last two songs, "Dear Mr. Fantasy" and "Gimme Some Lovin'." And he sounded great. I hate that I missed so much of his performance. Next time I go to the Verizon, I think I'll park a couple miles away and bring some roller skates.

--My buddy Brian and I had lawn tickets, but when we got to the lawn section, there was a table set up that said, "Upgrades $10." So we paid twenty bucks and got tickets to move up to the covered seats. Totally worth it. Especially when you consider if I had paid for a similar upgrade online, it would've run me more like $40 or $50 extra.

--It was oppressively humid, topping out, according to Weather.com, at 83%. According to scientists, standing underneath a steaming hot shower for 20 minutes only reaches 80% humidity, so you can understand how bad it was. That's not true at all, of course, but that's what it felt like.

--Petty was wearing black boots, black jeans, and a black long-sleeved shirt. I suspect his wardrobe combined with the humidity may have contributed to he (and Winwood) cutting a couple songs from the show. Not that he looked all that put out by the mugginess. He is a Florida boy, after all; he's probably used to much worse, now that I think about it. (Weather.com says Gainesville, FL, Petty's hometown, hit 93% humidity yesterday morning. Yikes.)

--Beers were nine dollars. Nine goddam dollars. For a 24 oz. Miller Lite. Yeah.

--"American Girl" is just about the best fucking song ever.

Tom Petty -- Pre-Show

Hey folks! I'm going to the Tom Petty show tonight! Jealous? You're jealous.

It's at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Selma, just outside of San Antonio, about an hour and a quarter from Austin (considering I'll be heading down during rush hour, maybe two hours). I've got tickets for the lawn section, and there's supposedly a 40% chance of thundershowers in the area, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to this show. Tom Petty is one of my all-time favorites, and I've never seen him live before. And best of all, much as I enjoyed his most recent album, Highway Companion, this isn't a tour in support of any particular release. It's basically a greatest hits tour. I mean, check out the set list from his most recent show:

YOU WRECK ME
LISTEN TO HER HEART
I WON'T BACK DOWN
EVEN THE LOSERS
FREE FALLIN'
MARY JANE
END OF THE LINE
CAN'T FIND MY WAY HOME (w/Steve Winwood)
GIMME SOME LOVIN' (w/Steve Winwood)
SAVING GRACE
BREAKDOWN
HONEY BEE
LEARNING TO FLY
DON'T COME AROUND HERE NO MORE
REFUGEE
[Encore]
RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM
GLORIA
AMERICAN GIRL

Oh, did I mention Steve Winwood is opening? Dude, Petty is performing "Can't Find My Way Home" and "Gimme Some Lovin'" with Steve Winwood. Awesome. I recently said I wasn't too big on Winwood's "Roll With It." Doesn't mean I'm not a fan of Winwood himself. Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith... yeah, this'll be good.

Full report tomorrow. Yay for me!

An Album For Every Year

Yep, I'm really going to do it! Following up on my two lists of my favorite movies for each year I've been alive, here is my stab at the same kind of list, but for albums instead.

I'm keeping this list much briefer: just my #1 pick and one runner-up, and that's it. Arbitrary rules: no reissues, no greatest hits compilations. Original albums in the original years they were released only.

Source: mostly here. It's not perfect. There are a couple of omissions I noticed here and there. Such as: no mention of Hoyt Axton. What do you got against Hoyt Axton, the Internet??? Anyhoo, hopefully I can cobble together a genuinely representative list of my musical tastes from this and a couple other resources, along with the meager assistance of my memory.

1970: Neil Young, After the Gold Rush
Runner-up: The Beatles, Let It Be

1971: The Who, Who's Next
Runner-up: The Doors, L.A. Woman

1972: Neil Young, Harvest
Runner-up: George Carlin, Class Clown

1973: Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Runner-up: The Who, Quadrophenia

1974: Hoyt Axton, Life Machine
Runner-up: Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark

1975: Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
Runner-up: Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run

1976: Hoyt Axton, Fearless
Runner-up: Billy Joel, Turnstiles

1977: Pink Floyd, Animals
Runner-up: Fleetwood Mac, Rumours

1978: The Who, Who Are You
Runner-up: Van Halen, Van Halen

1979: AC/DC, Highway To Hell
Runner-up: The Clash, London Calling

1980: AC/DC, Back in Black
Runner-up: Pete Townshend, Empty Glass

1981: Billy Joel, Songs in the Attic
Runner-up: Rush, Moving Pictures

1982: Pete Townshend, All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes
Runner-up: Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska

1983: Huey Lewis & the News, Sports
Runner-up: Def Leppard, Pyromania
Man, we are really into the '80s now!

1984: Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A.
Runner-up: Van Halen, 1984

1985: John Cougar Mellencamp, Scarecrow
Runner-up: The Pogues, Rum, Sodomy & the Lash

1986: They Might Be Giants, They Might Be Giants
Runner-up: Peter Gabriel, So

1987: Guns N' Roses, Appetite For Destruction
Runner-up: John Cougar Mellencamp, The Lonesome Jubilee

1988: Metallica, ...And Justice For All
Runner-up: They Might Be Giants, Lincoln

1989: Tom Petty, Full Moon Fever
Runner-up: Don Henley, The End of the Innocence

1990: They Might Be Giants, Flood
Runner-up: Sinead O'Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

1991: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Runner-up: Matthew Sweet, Girlfriend

1992: Barenaked Ladies, Gordon
Runner-up: Lemonheads, It's a Shame About Ray

1993: Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville
Runner-up: Sheryl Crow, Tuesday Night Music Club

1994: Green Day, Dookie
Runner-up: Bad Religion, Stranger Than Fiction

1995: Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Runner-up: Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill

1996: The Refreshments, Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy
Runner-up: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, She's the One

1997: Foo Fighters, The Colour and the Shape
Runner-up: Green Day, Nimrod

1998: The Offspring, Americana
Runner-up: Barenaked Ladies, Stunt

1999: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Californication
Runner-up: The Pretenders, ¡Viva El Amor!

2000: Barenaked Ladies, Maroon
Runner-up: O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack
I think I may actually not own a single other album released in 2000.

2001: Dropkick Murphys, Sing Loud, Sing Proud!
Runner-up: Tenacious D, Tenacious D

2002: Foo Fighters, One By One
Runner-up: Bad Religion, The Process of Belief

2003: Fountains of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers
Runner-up: Therapy?, High Anxiety

2004: Green Day, American Idiot
Runner-up: The Donnas, Gold Medal

2005: Foo Fighters, In Your Honor
Runner-up: Kathleen Edwards, Back To Me

2006: Tom Petty, Highway Companion
Runner-up: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Love Their Country

2007: Foo Fighters, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Runner-up: Fountains of Wayne, Traffic and Weather

2008: Kathleen Edwards, Asking For Flowers
Runner-up: Foxboro Hot Tubs, Stop Drop and Roll!!!

---

I'm probably overlooking a few of my faves by mistake. But that looks pretty good as is. I'd listen to that jukebox!

Some years were very difficult to narrow down -- I hated to have to leave out Sugar's brilliant Copper Blue and Tori Amos's Little Earthquakes for 1992, or Therapy?'s Troublegum and They Might Be Giants' John Henry for 1994. Some years, I had trouble finding a runner-up at all. Mostly 2000 and on. My music-buying dropped way off around that point.

And there are obviously a lot of names which kept popping up. A lot. What can I say? I find what I like and I stick with it. Nothing wrong with that, dang it, so lay off. If you think you're so darn smart, why don't you go and make your own list?? Smart guy.

MUSIC: It took 6 whole hours and 5 long days 4 all your lies to come undone

Second musical confession: I think if "3 Small Words" hadn't been saddled with being part of the Josie & the Pussycats Motion Picture Soundtrack, it could've been a moderate-to-huge radio hit.

In fact, that whole soundtrack is pretty rockin'. Music by Matthew Sweet and Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger, vocals by Letters to Cleo's Kay Hanley... it holds together as a pretty decent album in its own right.

No, seriously.

It's not up there in the truly brilliant but overlooked soundtrack division with Tom Petty's She's the One, but still. At least download that one song from wherever you can. It's fun as hell.