Audience Turns, Turns, Turns On To McGuinn
By Peter Teichmann
The Delphian - March 23, 1977
Saint Patrick's Day was something different at Adelphi this year. Closing out the day's celebrations were two concerts by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Roger McGuinn and Thunderbyrd. Neither show drew the crowd that was expected by the Concert Commitee of the Student Activities Board (S.A.B.)
Hitting the stage with eardrum-shattering volume, Tom Petty and his band of musicians treated the audience to a different form of music. What one would actually call this type of music is debatable. I would call it garbage.
Relying on what seemed like nothing but pure noise, Petty and group played through their segment of the show in hurried fashion. Singing completely unintelligible words and blending this with S.S.T. level volume, the band totally deafened the small crowd. When it came time for The Heartbreakers to leave the stage, they were greeted with cries of relief from the few people that had not taken to the halls for hearing relief.
Following a quick resetting of the stage, the lights dimmed, the crowd roared and McGuinn went into "Lover of the Bayou." This set the pace for what was to be an enjoyable evening with overtones of the late '60s.
McGuinn, formerly of The Byrds, expertly combined new material with some Byrd favorites, such as "Mr. Spaceman," and "I'm Going to Find that Horse if I Can."
McGuinn proved a total crowd pleaser. Finishing his performance, he was called back for an encore. For those in the audience who were possibly unfamiliar with his new material, the encore was more up their alley. Performing "Mr. Tambourine Man," followed by "Turn, Turn, Turn," McGuinn had the audience in the palm of his band. The audience, singing and cheering, still wanted more from him but after three hours of performing, he was undoubtedly tired.
It is unfortunate that more people did not take the opportunity to participate in this evening of music, singing, and general entertainment. For those of you who were there, you know what I'm talking about, for those of you who were not there, you missed it!
From The Studio To The Stage
The Delphian - March 23, 1977
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers appeared with Roger McGuinn and Thunderbyrd this past Thursday night at the University Center, in a concert which exemplified two groups on a long journey to success.
For a group that's been together for only a year, the Heartbreakers have progressed extremely well. In addition to their ABC-Shelter label album, Tom Petty and company have been performing across the country. "We work about 20 hours a day, every day of the week, but it's a lot of fun," commented lead vocalist, Tom Petty.
"We all dig rock 'n' roll and we love playing, more more importantly we love creating rather than recreating," drummer Stan Lynch went on to say. "When we finished the album we were really confident about our future. Everything is happening so fast; we knew we had a good album but we didn't know how good we'd do in concert."
The Heartbreakers made the transition from studio to live performances in a rather good fashion. On many occasions young rock bands experience much difficulty in performing live in front of big audiences. Keyboard player Benmont Tench told the Delphian that the Heartbreakers psych themselves for a concert "naturally." "Each of us loves to play in front of big crowds -- we rarely have a problem in getting psyched."
Petty, the band leader, thinks that each member of the band is highly talented individually. "It's not easy to 'put things together' but we have grown a lot in the one year that we've been playing together. Everyone is interested in working hard and the work is starting to pay off," Petty said.
Their performance was pretty good. The Heartbreakers are a fast and hard beat rock 'n' roll group that mixes up the tunes in each song they play. Their music definitely resembles the tunes of early English rock groups.
"Unlike many groups we put the music in front of the show. We are performers, but our first priority is playing good music," Tench said.
Mike North, The Hearbreakers' manager, has high hopes for the the group. "They are a hard working bunch of guys. The know what they have to do and they do it, but at the same time they're enjoying it."
It's not easy finding their album in record shops here on Long Island, but if you look hard enough you'll find it. The album, along with their performance, was impressive. According to Petty the group will be coming out with another album soon. The Heartbreakers is an exciting group, but they have a long way to go.