Tom Petty Caravan Rocks Its Heart Out
By Thom Duffy
Orlando Sentinel - July 24, 1987
NEW HAVEN, CONN. — An electric guitar slung at his waist, the singer prowled across the arena stage, his lanky blond hair falling to the shoulders of his black leather vest.
Behind him, a tattered cloth curtain, looking like a remnant from a traveling tent show, hung from the stage rigging. And around him, four band mates were playing at full tilt. Flailing at his tan guitar, knees bent, he leaped toward the microphone.
"Listen, little baby one of these days," he shouted in a nasal drawl. "Your pretty head's gonna turn my way ..." Standing on chairs, waving, many in the crowd of 5,000 fans in the New Haven Coliseum here cheered as if this were not the show's opening but its encore.
"Thank you very much," the singer said, lifting a cup off the drum platform in a toast to the audience. "My name is Tom Petty and these are the Heartbreakers. We want to officially welcome you to this rock 'n' roll caravan."
Petty and his band, of course, required no introduction. But his remark fit the tone of a summer tour that finds Heartbreakers playing rock 'n' roll again like some scrappy bar band driving for that big break. A band, say, like the Del Fuegos of Boston or the Georgia Satellites of Atlanta, the two acts opening for the Heartbreakers on what's been dubbed Rock 'n' Roll Caravan '87.
Dylan influence obvious in Petty concert
By Melanie Mars
Washington Observer-Reporter - June 24, 1987
It's been too long since Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were in Pittsburgh, and from the reaction of the Civic Arena crowd Monday, they were missed.
Nearly two hours and one encore of Tom Petty's band of rock 'n' roll was not enough for fans who had not seen him in Pittsburgh for almost four years.
Waiting for a ride after the concert, two barefoot fans were still dancing and singing in the rain.
From the beginning of his set, Petty had the crowd where he wanted it and kept it there. He started with the familiar "Breakdown" a song that is usually saved for the end. The standing crowd cheered, sang the lyrics and drowned out the singer.
Petty's 'Caravan' a winner at Blossom
By Julie Fanselow Swetye
Youngstown Vindicator - Wednesday, June 24, 1987
OK, I'll admit I arrived Tuesday at Blossom Music Center fully expecting one of the best concerts of the year. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were slated for the only Ohio stop on their tour, and they were bringing along two of the nation's hottest new bands, Georgia Satellites and Del Fuegos.
I was not disappointed. In fact, the "Rock 'n' Roll Caravan '87" show, as the triple-header was billed, turned out to be one of the best shows I've ever seen.
Petty, whose sound was muddled last July in an Akron Rubber Bowl concert backing Bob Dylan, rang loud and clear this time around. He bared his soul via his songs and he offered a piece of his mind via several lengthy treatises on the current state of America.
"We play a game called 'Who Do You Trust?'" Petty told the audience of more than 15,000. He asked the fans, most of whom were in their mid-20s, which of these people and institutions they thought they could trust: Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Jerry Falwell, Mikhail Gorbachev, the CIA, the PTL and on and on. (It almost got to sounding like the chorus from the Beatles' "Dig It.")
Each name was met with a chorus of boos from the audience, although Gorbachev, interestingly, rated less of a heckling than the others. At the end of the list, Petty said, "The only way to win that game is to trust yourself," and led his band into Buffalo Springfield's 1967 anthem, "For What It's Worth."
Petty, obviously in a gregarious mood, followed that song with an apology for being "so political. But," he said, "we got money for bombs but we ain't got money to feed people."
Records: Tom Petty, rock's elite
By Mike Daly
The Age - Thursday, June 25, 1987
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are among the rock elite -- a band with an impressive record over a decade and whose individual members are in demand on other people's albums, as players and/or songwriters.
Bob Dylan made a shrewd choice when he teamed with the Petty quintet for last year's hugely successful "True Confessions" world tour. The group provided Dylan with the best musical backing he has had since his days with The Band, content with its supporting role in return for showcasing the Heartbreakers' own material in front of a massive audience.
The best was to come, however, with Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) (MCA 5836-1), a full-blooded studio set culled from more than a score of songs Petty and Co squeezed in between tour legs. Unlike 1985's complex Southern Accents album, the new record is straight-ahead rock -- no frills, just superb playing from a distinctive musical team with a classic sound. There are no guest start; it is all the band's work, including production.
Petty's nasal, high vocal, with its rough, spoken quality, has always shown a strong Dylan influence and his lyrics, although less ambitious, carry their own sting. Comparisons with the early Rolling Stones also are inevitable, especially on the snarling opener, Jammin' Me, where there is a definite feeling of deja-vu, and the more restrained The Damage You've Done, with solid, riffing guitars from Mike Campbell and Petty, Ben Tench's crashing piano and bluesy organ, plus the powerhouse rhythm of Stan Lynch (drums) and Howie Epstein (bass).
Yet this is a very American band, attuned to guitar-rich country-rock as well as the restless urban beat -- Jammin' Me is almost like a revved-up talking blues.
Petty on road with Heartbreakers
By Steve Hochman
The Tuscaloosa News - July 25, 1987
"I had kind of a weird week last week," Tom Petty told the crowd in Tempe, Ariz. "Somebody came and burned my house to the ground. It's all right, really." He paused and held out his 12 string Rickenbacker. "They didn't burn this." It was an appropriate comment for a concert that was in part a tribute to guitar rock. This was the second stop of the Rock 'n' Roll Caravan '87, Petty and the Heartbreakers' tour with the Georgia Satellites and the Del Fuegos.
It's been a while since Petty and the boys have gone on tour simply on the strength of their songs and playing. Last time around they were sharing the stage with Bob Dylan, and th time before that was 1985's unwieldy Pack Up the Plantation tour -- complete with horns, background singers and an elaborate set depicting a decaying Southern mansion, a reference to the ambitious themes to the album "Southern Accents."
The rare three-band tour -- designed to re-create the generous spirit of barnstorming multi-act bills of past rock generations -- was a strong testimony of the value of rock for rock's sake. The mood was set by the Boston-based Del Fuegos, who proved that it's possible to sound like a great club band even in an arena setting. Ditto for the Georgia Satellites, whose exuberant brand of gut-bucket guitar rock must be experienced live to be appreciated. If the Faces ever played sober, they probably sounded a lot like this quartet.
Midyear Album List
By Robert Hilburn
The Los Angeles Times - June 28, 1987
4. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)" (MCA)--Bouncing back from the schizophrenic "Southern Accents" LP, Petty and the band deliver their liveliest and most assured album since "Damn the Torpedoes" eight years ago. "Runaway Trains" and "It'll All Work Out" are consoling works in the classic Petty tradition, while "My Life/Your World" and "All Mixed Up" suggest movement toward more social awareness. Throughout, the Heartbreakers play with the friskiness and punch of a great new band just entering the studio. (Chart position: 20 and climbing.)
Petty Newly Confident At Rain-Soaked SPAC
By Mike Hochanadel
Schenectady Gazette - June 29, 1987
SARATOGA SPRINGS -- It always rains when Tom Petty plays the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. But it never seems to matter.
Review: Rock 'n roll caravan rips through Blossom
By Christopher Leonardi
The Jambar - Thursday, July 2, 1987
Petty and the Heartbreakers' explosive Blossom show reviewed.
The concert event of the year was here, as the "Rock 'n Roll Caravan '87" steamrolled its way through Blossom Music Center last Tuesday night. The triple-billing featured two of the most impressive new bands in rock music today (Del Fuegos and the Georgia Satellites) along with those reigning heavyweight champions of the road, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Anyone concerned with the state of rock and roll in this age of shoe corporations sporting Beatle tunes as their anthems can rest assured that the styles taught by the masters have not been forgotten.
Record Review
By Lucky Lara
Manila Standard - July 2, 1987
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) | MCA
Though this is admittedly one of Petty's finest releases since 1979's No. 2 smash Damn the Torpedoes, his music is weighed down by tentative moves into high-tech rock, an experiment begun with 1985's Southern Accents.
Leadoff single, the Dylanesque Jammin' Me is already off to a fiery chart start and is destined to top Petty's Don't Do Me Like That. Standard Petty arrangements more than make up for the disappointments.