HOLLYWOOD BOWL
OCTOBER 16, 1999
LOS ANGELES, CA.Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers could be seen lighting up the skies on last Saturday night at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California. This perfomance was the last concert of their most recent tour which has played the majority of large outdoor venues in the U.S and even included several shows in Europe. Tom Petty's latest album "Echo" was released earlier this year and Tom has been on the road since then. He opened this last show with the same song he opened most of the concerts he has played this year, "Jammin' Me," which always gets the crowd up off their feet right away. Even at the Hollywood Bowl which is for the most part a sit down venue, but apparently the crowd could not contain themselves from jumping to their feet and dancing as Tom Petty hit the stage with a flash of light and the explosive sound of rock and roll. The fun went rollin' hard and fast right into "Running Down A Dream" and then everybody's favorite "Breakdown" followed by a great new song "Swinging." The crowd was a mixture of those who wouldn't sit down and those who wouldn't stand up, this contributed to a little dissension amongst the crowd, but I believe it all came out in the musical wash and everyone had a good time.
The Hollywood Bowl is a place right out of history, there is no doubt about it. The Beatles have graced the stage here, also Frank sinatra and many others. Tom likes to play the Bowl when he does shows in Los Angeles. I was surprised not to see any movie stars out in the crowd because the atmosphere of the layout was a very elite setting. The seats down front were mostly in these spacious private and personal little four person boxes that extended back to about three hundred feet from the stage where huddled masses of overcrowded bench seating began and went up to the top of the hill. Kevin Spacey was seen backstage there, and I'm sure a few other Hollywood stars were there also but none of them ventured out into the crowd.
The stage at the Bowl has a permanent backdrop consisting of these long white air tubes that come up from the ground behind the stage and extend out above the stage towards the audience, complemented with these huge white balls suspended below them. The psychadelic lightshow shining on the tubes and balls above the stage was quite impressive, if you ever get the chance to see a show at the Hollywood Bowl, don't turn it down!! You could just feel the nostalgia floating around you, and imagine the crowds of days gone by in this old venue. It was all very exciting and grandiose to see the Heartbreakers just tearing it up for the crowd of today. Tom had this huge golden jeweled treasure chest and these giant insence burners for props on the stage. Further accenting the theme, were sequined ornately embroidered pillows all over the stage and beautiful persian rugs covering the whole floor giving way to a magical vibe that seemed to fit the evening quite well. Tom reached into his treasure chest at one point and pulled out a very nice black hat that quite fit the role of a magic hat, except Tom never pulled a rabbit from the hat, he just put it on his head and the magic continued to flow from his guitar and voice. He only played one song from "Echo" and I have to admit I was a little disappointed not to hear a few more songs from the Heartbreaker's latest release, but the show was still phenomonal.
Tom and the Heartbreakers played their timeless hits "American Girl" and "You Got Lucky" from the seventies and also ever popular hits from the nineties like "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and "You Wreck Me." The highlights of the evening, and my personal favorites, were a beautiful and melodic song "Walls" off the soundtrack from the movie "She's the One" and also "It's Good To Be King" from Tom Petty's 1994 release "Wildflowers." Tom was wearing leather pants, a leather vest, and a burgundy red shirt. He was just oozing coolness from every pore, quite in the fashion of one of Tom's inspirational influences who is one Elvis Presley. The encores were "Gloria" and "Freefalling," which completely blew the roof off the joint as these searchlights crisscrossed the dark night above the Hollywood Bowl in an impressive pattern that lit up the sky. Thanks for reading and we'll see ya at the shows.
NICK RUNNING
Photo by Nick Running © 1999 All Rights Reserved
Photo by Nick Running © 1999 All Rights Reserved
Photo by Nick Running © 1999 All Rights Reserved
Photo by Nick Running © 1999 All Rights Reserved
Photo by Nick Running © 1999 All Rights Reserved
Photo by Nick Running © 1999 All Rights Reserved
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