A scenic drive through 40 years of rootsy rock
Another year of summertime Hyde Park gigs, another classic pop anniversary. Twelve months ago, it was 45 years of Carole King’s
Tapestry, and in 2015, it was half a century of The Who. This time it was the turn of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Florida veterans and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, who closed this year’s British Summer Time run with a scenic, if unspectacular, highway drive through their 40-year back catalogue.
“How’s your mojo tonight?” asked Petty, before kicking into the rockabilly swing of Rockin’ Around
(With You), the opening track from the band’s eponymous debut album – actually released in 1976, but who’s counting? – and, according to Petty, the first song they ever played live in England. The Heartbreakers hit their stride with Mary Jane’s Last Dance, kicking out a supremely competent, country-tinged rock and roll groove, all ringing guitar chords and swirling organ, with a handsome, gospel-ish backbone provided by two female singers.
With his wispy blond locks, thick beard and glitzy red shirt, you might have mistaken Petty for a fourth Bee Gee. But then, part of his and the Heartbreakers’ charm has always been their imperviousness to rock mores and fashions. Instead, they’ve traded on the depth and consistency of their 13 albums (plus three Tom Petty solo records) and their quiet mastery of a melting pot of rootsy rock styles, from power pop to heartland rock, country to folk.
They were all on show here, from the swampy blues stomp of Forgotten Man to the serene acoustic rock of Learning to Fly, via the AOR punch of I Won’t Back Down and Free Fallin’. Throughout, Petty’s stoned, laconic drawl made him the perfect compère for this balmy Sunday night.
To cheers, he welcomed Stevie Nicks to the stage to duet on the pair’s 1981 hit Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around. Earlier, during an elegant set that featured Fleetwood Mac favourites Rhiannon and Dreams, Nicks had proved herself a willing crowd-pleaser, saying of her great friend: “Tom Petty is my favourite rock star.”
But despite the polished breadth of styles, it was disappointing that the set didn’t feature more material from The Heartbreakers’ classic late-seventies and early Eighties period. Blue collar rockers such as The Waiting or Don’t Do Me Like That were conspicuous in their absence, and only the moody Refugee made the cut from their seminal 1979 album Damn the Torpedoes. Inevitable closer American Girl was as spry and intoxicating as ever, yet with its punkish backbeat and chiming, jangle-pop guitars, it almost seemed out of place with the rest of the set. A little more raw urgency like this would have made the show a 40th birthday to remember.