Arts & Culture October 14,999 TOM Pirrrs LAST DANCE

By Paul Coco the tragedy and beauty that encompasses the American experience at any age. Petty had stiff competition from a six- Rock music is dead. That's the com- teen year-old who was jumping around mon consensus on popular music at the screaming out the lyrics to "American end of the twentieth century. In today's Girl" and pleading with his parents for a popular music landscape of Backstreet chance to look through the binoculars. Boys and Ricky Martin it's hard for any- For all of the awards and recognition an one who isn't sixteen or Latin to get air- artist can receive during a career, I can't play, but that doesn't mean that rock imagine an honor greater than watching a music is dead. Sure, rock music isn't as fan respond to a song that is older than popular as it was in the past, but there are twice his age. still those dedicated few musicians giv- Despite the majestic guitar rifts, ing rock 'n rollers what they crave. One pounding drum beats, lush piano and har- of these musicians is , and monica playing that characterized. the when Petty walks on stage in his long Heartbreaker's set, nothing was more black velvet coat and leather pants with impressive than how much fun the band his guitar in hand it is clear that rock 'n was haying. Petty would rip through each roll is alive and well. song like he had never played it before, I have been fortunate enough to catch and he would pause respectfully after up with Tom Petty and his band, the each one, seemingly awed by the over- Tom Petty and Band Heartbreakers (gui- tarist , Got Lucky," and "Free Fallin'" before it, keyboardist Benmont "Swingin"' weaves a tale of a bad boy Tench, bassist Howie These songs recount tales of pain, failed who likes to break little girls' hearts. Epstein, drummer relationships and the courage that it takes to get Unlike their predecessors, however, and "Swingin"' has an optimistic streak to it. ) three through it all. More than any other of his previous This time around, that little girl doesn't times during their get her heart broken. Instead, she tells the 1999 Echo tour, in works, Echo is an album that sums up Tom Petty guy off, heads out onto the open road and support of their new the man, not Tom Petty the rock star. "Goes down swingin'". album of the same The freedom of the open road has name. The always been characteristic of Petty's Heartbreakers opened songs, and a stand-out track from Echo, their set with a ferocious version of whelming display of affection from the feelings of a man unsure of his position titled "Free Girl Now," celebrates the joy "Jammin' Me," beginning a two-and- crowd. Petty would raise his guitar in the in life. After enduring a bitter divorce that comes from packing it all up and half-hour, twenty-four song performance air and extend his hands, comically five years ago, Petty has become a good leaving for good. On Echo, Petty has consisting of several new songs and acknowledging the enthusiastic applause deal more introspective, and the new injected more of himself into the charac- plenty of greatest hits. After nearly three with an "aw, shucks" grin and a slight songs capture the tumultuous experience ter-driven songs he writes, suggesting decades in the music business, Petty bow. Even when Petty resorted to tried- of having his life completely altered. that although he views life as a struggle, knows how to work a crowd, and he and-true practices, like donning his These songs recount tales of pain, failed he's just fine with how everything's delivered most of the Heartbreaker's trademark Mad Hatter's hat for a psyche- relationships, and the courage that it worked out. This solemnity is new to classic tunes including "Free Fallin'," delic interpretation of "Don't Come takes to get through it all. More than any Petty's performances, and both the crowd "Mary Jane's Last Dance," "You Don't Around Here No More," Petty appeared other of this previous works, Echo is an and his fellow Heartbreakers seem to Know How it Feels," "Listen to Her as excited as the rest of the crowd. album that sums up Tom Petty the man, view Petty in a new, more respectful Heart," "Breakdown," and "Refugee" The best moments, however, came not Tom Petty the rock star. During manner. just to name a few. Even more impres- when Petty performed stripped down "Room at the Top," when Petty sings No matter what it is that changed sive than the Heartbreaker's performance versions of several songs. A eerie hush "I've got a room where everyone can Petty, the music still maintains its excep- was the crowd's devotion to the band. fell over the crowd when Petty did an have a drink and forget those things that tional quality. Watching Petty perform Only once, during an instrumental per- acoustic rendering of "," (from the went wrong in their lives," we get a brief live, it is clear that his motivation for formance, did the crowd take their seats. She's the One soundtrack) and followed glimpse at the promises not kept and making music has never been about mak- In this age of such firmly established it with the haunting first single from suppressed pain that Petty can't seem to ing money. There is an appreciation Petty musical genres, perhaps Petty's greatest Echo, the painfully beautiful "Room at let go. displays for his fans, his band, and the accomplishment is creating music that the Top." During these moments, Petty That is not to say that Echo is an music itself that is missing from younger spans multiple generations. When Petty presented himself not as a rock 'n roll entirely bleak experience. Several songs musicians. Three decades later, Tom invited the crowd to help him sing "I superstar, but as a simple man looking up on the album retain the classic Petty and the Heartbreakers deliver one Won't Back Down," the amphitheater at the night sky, searching for meaning in Heartbreaker style, portraying the arro- hell of a great rock concert. They just boomed with the voices of Fifteen to the words that escaped from his lips. gance that we have come to expect and might be the last truly great American fifty-year olds. Rivaled only by It was these moments of yearning that admjrc in true rock stars. Petty describes rock 'n roll band, but they still know Springsteen for capturing the spirit of flawlessly captured the reflective tone of "Swingin'," the second single from what it takes to make a crowd go down middle-class life in his music, Petty's the Echo album. The five songs Petty Echo, as a tale about "a good girl gone swingin'H songs relate the joy, the disappointment, performed from Echo each presented the bad." Just like "American Girl," "You