Petty fans on 'cloud nine' with big show now here
By Spencer Buell
Metro Halifax - May 30, 2012
Jason Arnold refers to himself as a Tom Petty super fan.
And at Thursday night's much anticipated Petty concert at the Halifax Metro Centre, he plans to be carrying his Wildflowers album and asking the famous rock star for an autograph.
"Ever since I found out he was coming, I've been on cloud nine," said Arnold, a Sackville resident.
He got his tickets for the sixth row on the floor on pre-sale, and he said he'll be attending the show with his wife and a few friends.
Free Fallin' at the Metro Centre
By Stephen Cooke
Halifax Chronicle-Herald - June 1, 2012
Let's just cut to the chase and state the obvious: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers play one of the greatest rock and roll shows you're ever going to see, and on Thursday night Halifax got to see it in all its glory.
Admittedly, it's a tough call when you consider some of the acts that have rolled through the Metro Centre over the years, from Neil Young and John Fogerty to Pearl Jam and the Pixies. But pound for pound, in terms of the volume of hits, natural charisma and the wonder of a band whose members intermesh so effortlessly after playing together for decades, Petty and his cohorts score as high as anybody.
You Got Lucky, Halifax
By Alex Boutilier
Metro Halifax - June 1, 2012
The rock legends made their first ever stop in Nova Scotia on Thursday, bringing three decades worth of tunes to the Maritimes.
"How are you doing tonight?" asked Petty.
One assumes the question was rhetorical, since the crowd had hardly stopped cheering since he took the stage.
"We finally made it to Halifax."
Tom Petty gets the crowd singing with all of his hits
By Ken Simmons
St. John's Telegram - June 4, 2012
Gospel band, Blind Boys of Alabama treats audience
Tom Petty is a storyteller. After his Newfoundland weekend -- two nights at St. John's Mile One Centre -- he probably has a few more tales to tell.
Some struggled to justify the price of admission when the Heartbreakers show was announced, with tickets between $80 and $170, but you can't argue with success, and these shows, two of only three Canadian dates on Petty's current tour, packed them in to the rafters. None appeared to be regretting the expense.
Rock: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the o2, dublin
By Ed Power
The Irish Independent - Monday, June 11, 2012
Of the major American songwriters of the past 40 years, Tom Petty is perhaps hardest to pigeonhole.
While Springsteen and Dylan's shtick was long ago cast in concrete, Petty remains a mercurial figure, a populist whose anthemic songs are tinged with edge-of-town weirdness.
Or maybe we simply haven't seen enough of him lately to get a sense of where he's at. It's two decades since he performed in Ireland and the first date of his new European tour has a novelty factor that ensures a sell-out attendance.
The last time he played here Petty was in the midst of a surprise mid-career upswing. The one-two punch of Full Moon Fever and Into The Great Wide Open had confirmed him as laureate of off-beam Americana, a songwriter as evocative and visionary as Bruce or Bob but without the tendency to lapse into caricature (with the possible exception of Neil Young you struggle to think of a contemporary who has stayed as spiky and vigorous through the decades).
Supported by grizzled backing crew The Heartbreakers, he might be expected to make amends for his long absence with a greatest hits set. As anyone who has watched Peter Bogdanovich's Petty biopic Runnin' Down A Dream will know, however, the 61-year-old has never been a simple crowd-pleaser and, while tonight has plenty of hits, there are off-beat, even indulgent, moments, too.
Tom Petty: a rock star for the ages
By Neil McCormick
The Daily Telegraph - June 16, 2012
On the eve of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' first UK gigs in 13 years, the evergreen rocker is still grateful to the British fans who kickstarted his career. Neil McCormick meets him
Tom Petty sits in the cool quiet of a recording studio at his Malibu beach front house, hunched over a black coffee and drawing on the first in a long chain of cigarettes. His skin has the ashen pall of a serious smoker, his greying beard, long, thin blonde hair and faded T-shirt and sneakers lending him a scraggly appearance at odds with the luxuriousness of the setting.
On the other side of the French windows, there is sunshine, palm trees and the endless blue of the ocean, a vista that resonates with old-fashioned notions of rock-and-roll dreams fulfilled. "My cousin came over and she said, 'Did you ever think you'd have a house like this?'?" recalls Petty. "I said, 'I didn't know anyone had a house like this'." He laughs lightly to himself. "I didn't get into music for those reasons. I saw this as taking the road that wouldn't be profitable. If it hadn't worked out, I'm sure I'd still be playing at weekends, holding down a regular job.
"A reliable car, a place to live and a job playing music, that was my goal, it was my entire dream. The rest of it just came in increments. Things started to move really fast and didn't seem to stop for the longest time. Suddenly, you look around, and all this great stuff has happened. I was just trying to get to the next gig, or the next record. It's kind of still the same." He laughs again, with gentle incredulity. "All in all, I'm as happy as a 61-year-old rock star can be."
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – review | Royal Albert Hall, London / 4/5
By Stevie Chick
The Guardian - Tuesday, June 19, 2012
One of American rock's true evergreens, Tom Petty has never really stopped selling out arenas at home, so even though tonight's a sellout, the 5,000-capacity Albert Hall is still a modest crowd for him. Not that he isn't thrilled to play this venerated venue. "This has been a longtime dream of ours," he offers, humbly. "With all my heart, in a very 'non-showbiz' way, we're very happy to be at the Royal Albert Hall."
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Albert Hall - review
By David Smyth
The London Evening Standard - June 19, 2012
In fine voice, Petty delivered the classics with precision, his ageing male-dominated crowd just about forgiving him and his Heartbreakers for the 13 year absence | Critic Rating: ★★★★
As a slight variation on the band reunion tours that litter the concert schedules like so much confetti, there's the group that might as well have split up because they haven't bothered coming around these parts for a very long time.
Tom Petty was a heroin addict in the ’90s. Here’s why he’s finally talking about it.
By Geoff Edgers
The Washington Post - October 7, 2015
The idea for a new unauthorized Tom Petty biography came from a surprising source: Tom Petty.
“He didn’t want it to be authorized because he felt like authorized meant bull—-,” says Warren Zanes, whose “Petty: The Biography” arrives next month. “He said, ‘I want it to be yours. And I can’t tell you what you can and can’t write.’”
The result is a penetrating profile in which Petty opens up for the first time about his heroin addiction, something he had sliced out of Peter Bogdanovich’s four-hour documentary, 2007’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream.” Zanes also coaxed Stan Lynch, the ex-drummer of Petty’s longtime backing band, The Heartbreakers, to talk unflinchingly about his falling-out with Petty. And there’s plenty more as Zanes, granted full access, reports on the creation of not just Petty’s biggest records, “Damn the Torpedoes,” and “Full Moon Fever,” but his less appreciated gems, including 1999’s “Echo.” Zanes is more than a fan: In 1987, his band, the Del Fuegos, opened gigs for their hero. Years later, Petty, fascinated by the Dusty Springfield book Zanes wrote, invited him to dinner and rekindled their friendship. Zanes spoke by telephone about “Petty.”