Dylan, Petty plan tour
By Stan W. Metzler
Reading Eagle - Saturday, April 12, 1986
HOLLYWOOD -- Bob Dylan, telling reporters that every song he sings is a protest song, announced plans for a nationwide summer concert tour with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
The rock stars, who first got together in the Farm Aid concert last fall and earlier this year made a "True Confessions" tour of Japan, New Zealand, and Australia, will hit at least 22 cities in the United States, starting June 9 in San Diego and ending July 19 in Philadelphia.
Dylan, a folk and rock music legend whose songs include "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'," told reporters Thursday he does not think his music has changed much over the past 25 years.
New Cassettes
By Stephen Holden
The New York Times - April 13, 1986
Pack Up the Plantation Live! | Featuring Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | MCA Home Video | 96 minutes. | $29.95
Tom Petty, who grew up in Gainesville, Fla., is a mainstream rocker whose soul-flavored folk-rock songs evoke a pungent sense of place.
Like Bruce Springsteen's New Jersey and John Cougar Mellencamp's Indiana, Mr. Petty's American South teems with rebels. But the Southern breed drinks harder, ruminates bitterly on the Civil War and doesn't romanticize teen-age life.
''Pack Up the Plantation Live!,'' a concert video shot last year in Los Angeles, features many of the best songs from Mr. Petty's recent album ''Southern Accents,'' as well as rip-roaring revivals of ''So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star,'' ''Route 66'' and ''A Little Bit o' Soul.''
Mr. Petty lacks an inspiring personal charisma, but he is a talented creator of rock-oriented dramatic monologues that show a fine ear for the American vernacular.
Dylan-Petty show promises great music
The Spokesman-Review - April 14, 1986
Bob Dylan will perform in 22 U.S. cities this summer with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers during a tour that will begin in San Diego June 9 and end in Philadelphia on July 19. The pop music icon, who toured Japan, New Zealand and Australia this year, announced the plans last week in Hollywood and said that The Grateful Dead would also perform at stops in Minneapolis, Akron, Ohio; Buffalo and Washington.
Asked if he were going to be Jewish or Christian on the tour, the born-again, off-again Dylan said, "I'm Jewish only when I have to be." He said he'd "be Christian ... part of the time." Why is he touring with the Heartbreakers? "We just felt like it," said Dylan. Said Petty: "Money."
Tom Petty's Southern pride takes root in songs, album
By Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle - Thursday, April 17, 1986
Like so many of today's rock 'n' rollers, Tom Petty has been making a big thing of his roots lately. In his case, though, roots rock doesn't mean nationalism, but regionalism.
Petty is a Southern boy, you see, hailing from Gainesville, Fla. So naturally, he's started wearing a Confederate flag stitched inside his long, old-style Southern coat. And his songs have titles such as " Southern Accents" and "Rebels." And he has an album called "Pack Up the Plantation." And on occasion, he even adds a country twang to his already nasal vocals while his lead guitarist sits down to play slide.
Indeed, Petty is such a dedicated Southerner that he lives in Los Angeles.
Editor's Note: I find this hilarious.
Baked Bean Bob
Glasgow Evening Times - April 25, 1986
At a recent American press conference, hailed to announce their joint tour, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty stunned journalists by turning up sporting elaborate make-up which would have done Joan Collins proud.
Petty wore a deathly white foundation, heavy duty mascara and lots of baby pink highlighters. Dylan opted for a thick layer of orange-tinted fake tan and ended up looking like a baked bean.
Now this sort of behavior is all very well for chaps like Boy George, but this pair are supposed to be clean-cut, straight-shooting rock'n'roll stars.
"We were stuck backstage for over an hour and we just got bored," drawled Petty.
"So we just let the make-up artists get on with it because we had nothing else to do."
Two more for the road... in a Dylan/Petty give-and-take act
By Adam Sweeting
The Straits Times - May 27, 1986
Going on tour with Bob Dylan has certainly turned out well for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Adam Sweeting talks to the singer.
At the Westwood One radio station in Los Angeles, a heavily-made-up Bob Dylan faces a solid wall of photographers, journalists and television cameras. Microphone booms weave inquisitively over his head.
Next to him, (aggressively tight-lipped, straw-blond hair lapping over his collar), sits Tom Petty -- Florida's most famous export after Miami Vice.
The purpose of the press conference is to announce the second leg of the Dylan/Petty True Confessions tour, which will kick off in San Diego, on June 9.
Faces: On the road
Lakeland Ledger - June 11, 1986
Bob Dylan is a hit on the opening stop of his first U.S. tour in five years. Dylan on a "True Confessions Tour" with Tom Petty (left) and the Heartbreakers, performed before an almost sell-out crowd at the San Diego Arena Monday night. The tour will include 22 cities throughout the country.
Dylan, Petty Open Tour : On Track On Highway '86
By Robert Hilburn
The Los Angeles Times - June 11, 1986
SAN DIEGO — Bob Dylan brought it all back home--and then some--on Monday night at the Sports Arena here.
In one of the most dramatic moments in a career that spans 2 ½ decades, he kicked off his most ambitious U.S. tour in seven years with the confidence and authority of a man who once again feels secure in his art.
Though the acclaimed singer-songwriter has given many compelling performances since returning to concerts in 1974 after years of seclusion, he usually seemed uneasy on stage--as if struggling to find his place in the post-'60s pop world.
Dylan Begins 1st U.S. Tour In Five Years
By Alan L. Adler
Schenectady Gazette - June 11, 1986
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Bob Dylan, called the Poet Laureate of the '60s for his classic protest songs, got a rousing welcome on the opening stop of his first U.S. tour in five years.
Dylan, on a "True Confessions Tour" with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, entertained a nearly sold-out San Diego Sports Arena for close to three hours Monday night, alternating sets with rocker Petty, who has a following of his own.
Dylan and Petty shared a microphone several times, including on the Dylan hits "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."
"He's like a stoic big brother," Petty said of touring with the 45-year-old Dylan. "He had a big hit when I was being potty-trained."