Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Crosby, Stills and Nash
Comcast Theatre
Hartford, Connecticut
Tony Pijar
Tom Petty has always had incredible opening acts; ZZ Top, Steve Winwood, The Allmans, Joe Cocker, etc, and this time around he gave us Crosby, Stills and Nash. These guys must be in their 60s, but still sound great! The harmonies, exquisite playing and exuberance are still amply evident. Surprisingly, they played a mostly electric set – rare considering that they’re most famous for their acoustic material. Opening with arguably their greatest hit, “Woodstock”, Steven Stills proved that he can still rip it up on his Fender Strat, Graham Nash’s “Military Madness” was next He looked and sounded great and seemed to be the anchor in the band. After “Long Time Gone”, the band dug way back in its history to pull out “Bluebird” from their Buffalo Springfield days. An unexpected addition was a cover of The Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday”, which went over very well. David Crosby’s voice was impeccable too. “Our House”, “Déjà vu”, “Southern Cross”, “Wooden Ships”, “I Almost Cut my Hair”, and the encore, “For What it’s Worth” demonstrated how much history and influence the band has. It would have been cool to hear the likes of “Chicago” or “Love the One you’re with”, but overall a great warm-up to the man!
Tom Petty really isn’t viewed as a musician anymore’ he’s more of an icon nowadays, akin to say Springsteen or even Dylan. His drawl-ish demeanor and tome remains unique and effective in an arena setting. He had a surreal aura about him as he moved about the stage with a perpetual cool while directing the Heartbreakers as a conductor would direct his orchestra. Currently, they’re on the back end of a lengthy tour in support of their best album in many a year in “Mojo.” There was a fine balance between old and new with three excellent songs coming from “Mojo” – “Jefferson Jericho Blues” and “I Should’ve Known it” are classics in the making, and “Running Man’s Bible” is a sprawling number that allowed for the band to cruise a bit and get into a nice groove. Of course, the old standards were up front and in your face: “I won’t Back Down”, “Free Fallin”, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”, “Breakdown”, “Learning to Fly”, “Refugee”, “Runnin’ Down a Dream”, and “American Girl”. Quite honestly one of the most spectacular shows out there!
