TPHB Last Post, Promise!

One more brief post on the subject of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Did I mention that there were a lot of guitar changes? Seems like between each song Tom was switching out his guitar. Somehow it was ok though, they managed to do it pretty quick. I've been on stage a fair amount in my life, and switching instruments always seems to take an eternity.

Did I mention that Tom is showing his age a little bit?

(I mean c'mon, the man has been a rockstar pretty much full on for 30 years. Not to mention a partaker of a certain sticky, pointy-leafed herb. More than just a little I think. Let's cut the man some slack shall we?!)

Anyways. I was close enough to get some pretty clear photographic evidence that he is no Lance Bass anymore.

Love the lens flare on this one:

TPHB's Special Guest

Imagine my surprise at hearing Tom Petty tell a story about the "little sister" they found hanging out at their shows in the early days of the Heartbreakers back in the 70s...the days of the heyday of Fleetwood Mac...the insanity in record sales that was "Rumours"...

And then to hear him say, "please welcome Stevie Nicks!"

And further imagine my surprise at my own reaction...I was really excited! (Truly...I can't believe I'm writing this...) Now let me clarify...I have never been much of a Stevie Nicks fan...and only peripherally a Fleetwood Mac fan.

Here she is as she approaches the mic for the first time that night:


I'm telling myself that my reaction was due to Tom's skillful setup of her introduction with that cute story.


My skepticism notwithstanding, I found myself really looking forward to hearing her sing the songs they did together (Stop Draggin' My Heart Around, et al.)


Bah. Maybe I'm a closet Stevie Nicks fan. (Huh?!)

Well anyways. It was a great show. A good time was had by all, including me.

Heartbreaking Guitar

Most underrated guitarist in rock? Perhaps Mike Campbell...?


I mean, who has ever heard of this guy? Not me before Friday night's show at Bonnaroo. But after watching him do his rhythm and lead support gig for a couple of hours, I'm a believer.


Tasteful, tasty and rock-solid guitar playing. Great tones. Great collection of lovely vintage guitars, too. Check out this closeup of his white Gretsch!

TP and the Heartbreakers had a special guest for this show. Next time around you'll get to meet her!

Don't Have to Live Like...

...a refugee!

Kudos to my cousin Jeff in Washington DC, who correctly identified the mystery rockstar as (not Neil Young with a bad dye job, not Courtney Love goes acoustic, but...) Tom Petty, his own bad self.

Something that must be noted. Tom has never been the prettiest of ladies in the best of times, but now that he has been doing this gig for 30 years...well...he is really rivaling The Igster (Iggy Pop), Keith Richards and Jeff Tweedy for "Ugliest Man in Rock".

(I can hear you now...C'mon, since when do you have to be pretty to be a rockstar? Look at Gene Simmons for heaven's sake...)

So now having busted on TP for a little bit for things completely out of his control, let me say that as far as the things that he can control, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers put on a fabulous show. No joke at all...it was amazing.


It was well played, a consistent string of hits, a few new songs, the sound and lighting were also fabulous, and they all look great for a buncha guys traipsing around the world on tour for their 30th year!


He did an awful lot of striking the rockstar pose, this being a prime example:


There were a LOT of guitar changes. There were a LOT of LONG breaks between songs.


I guess when you've been doing this gig for 30 years and you've had as many hits as they have, you figure out how it's done...and you take your adoration where you can get it.

Great show guys...thanks for rocking us out!

....parts two and three of this concert to come....

"I want to take off all my clothes...

...and run naked among you!"

You just gotta love Stuart Copeland. One of the greatest rock drummers of all time, and, well...who knows what he was thinking. Yes, he really did say that at the end of the Oysterhead set.

And that, above, is a picture of him whilst spouting that quote. I know, you can't hear it, but I did. It happened, honest!

The Oysterhead show was amazing. Truth is that I couldn't hum a single melody of any of the songs they played, nor could I repeat any of the lyrics. But, in this case, it doesn't matter at all.

Between Trey (formerly of Phish)...


...and the inimitable, unflappably cool and outrageously talented Les Claypool (Primus)...


...and of course, the legendary Stuart Copeland...


...this show was a tour de force (gawd do I sound like an 80s rock journalist or what...?) of raw jamming talent. The story is that Oysterhead had not played together since 2001. There were a few end-of-song trainwrecks that were nicely and musically covered up, but for the most part the smooth interplay of their musicianship was something remarkable to witness.

There was some truly weird sh*t...


...like Trey playing his antler sound effects guitar...

(Did I just write that? "Antler Sound Effects Guitar"? Wow.......)


...and Les breaking out his modern take on a washtub bass...

...not to mention the Elvis mask...

...(what was he thinking....?!)...


But overall, weird sh*t and all, it was great fun to watch. Certainly part of that was the fact that these three world-class talents were themselves clearly having more fun than should be allowed in this life.

I'll leave you with my favorite picture of Stuart:


Don't be a stranger....

Copious Use of the Eff Word

OK, this post is not for the feint [sic] of heart. Wait, you're not supposed to "sic" your own words, are you? And anyway, even if you are, I'm not sure that first sentence means anything except that I'm trying to be cute.

Geez.

So, what I mean to say is that you really should navigate away from this page if you are easily offended.

Ben Folds was the next act I saw after DeVotchKa. And no, I didn't end up going to KZoo to see them (DeVotchKa) on Thursday. Too much going on that day. Way too much actually. But that's another story entirely. (Been saying that a lot lately, yes I have...)

So all y'all know that they typically play music through the PA before a concert starts that may or may not be related to anything, right? Well, the last thing we the fans heard before Ben walked out on stage was this. When the song first came on, everyone was kinda looking around at each other like...wtf is going on?? Weird... But then, the chorus hit. And everyone started giggling guiltily. Giggles turned to guffaws, and soon we were all laughing merrily.

Remarkable how using the eff word and God in the same sentence makes peoples' skin crawl, I think. You should really click that link if you haven't already. You'll be glad you did. Because you will be laughing so hard you'll be crying. Truly. Unless you have a stick up your butt. In which case, you probably navigated away from this page already, like my above warning asked you to. Right? So no flame-o-grams? K, thanks.

Right, so this post is actually about Ben Folds...well, I guess the "Ben Folds Bonnaroo experience". Suffice it to say that I'm now a Ben Folds fan. He put on a fantastic show. He was funny, engaging and his songs are great. Great melodies, clever lyrics, blistering satire and all that. He's actually a little too clever for his own good at times, but it was a whole ton of fun to watch. First thing out of his mouth when he got to his mic was, "Wow, you are a sh*tload of people!" Well, we were, actually.

He started off his set with a song he wrote in a Waffle House. It's called "All U Can Eat" and just about perfectly sums up my angst with our great country. And yes, it IS a great country. Just a little sick sometimes. :-)

I was close enough to get some great action shots:

There were a couple different times he had us sing along with him on harmony parts. I know it sounds cheesy, but it was actually great fun.

Especially when he was conducting us:


BF and Dr. Dre wrote a song together. Hilarious, actually. Even more use of the eff word. I think I probably laughed the most at this show out of all of them. Many of the other folks performing were taking themselves rockstar seriously. You'll understand that with the next coupla posts.

So then at the very end, he told us that he was going to take a picture to submit to the Bonnaroo photo contest. He got up on top of his Baldwin baby grand, waved at us, flipped us off, and here's the result:

I also think that between the "explicit content" of his lyrics and the opening song, the BF show was the highest density use of the eff word of the whole weekend. Which is saying something, given that it's a favorite of rock stars everywhere.

So, check back soon...more to come!