Editor's Note: They screwed up Mike Campbell's name and I find it very amusing.
There Goes the Last Rock Band
By Laila Derakhshanian
The Daily Titan - Thursday, December 5, 2002
REVIEW: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers revived their classics while introducing new songs from their latest album
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed in their hometown to celebrate mediocrity with an audience Petty referred to, and what actually felt like, friends.
At the Forum in Inglewood on Nov. 23, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers took to stage to play new music from their latest album, "The Last DJ," and to reach deep into their catalog for classic tunes, "Hope you don't have to get home soon. We'll travel," Petty forewarned.
With his shoulder length blonde hair, Petty, clad in jeans and a teal blazer, saluted the crowd with a sincere bashful appreciation and a smile.
Before performing "Joe," Petty explained that it was, "The meanest and nastiest song I ever wrote. I tried to put a face, human eyes on corporate America. It was hard to do. It made people mad from coast to coast and all made more than $100,000."
Petty entertained with a care-free confidence and ease. Possessed with talents that outnumber cars made in Japan, one of them a gift for storytelling, Petty shared tales that involved a woman and a phone booth, which punctuated a segue way into his next song.
Although Petty claimed that it was "scary to play in L.A.," he and his band played a two-hour set with energy and charisma barely present in performers half their age. With a humble nature, not familiar with most present day rock performers, Petty sang as mystified as the audience of the wonder him and his band projected.
Matt Chamberlain, a guitarist who has worked with Petty for over 30 years, played alongside Petty and carried every note in perfect parallell with Petty's perfunctory voice.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers woke the crowd from their dream as the music stopped and the band joined together upstage. The group took a bow -- living rock legends without a shadow of a doubt.