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Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Written By: Gary Crouthamel
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Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Tom Petty - Vocals/Guitar
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Mike Campbell - Guitar
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Steve Ferrone - Drums
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Tom Petty
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood
Wachovia Center, Phila. • June 5, 2008

    Steve Winwood, who has racked up his own catalog of hits during his solo years, along with bands like "Traffic", "Blind Faith" and the "Spencer Davis Group", opened the show with a 65-minute set, mostly made up of mellow rock from his new album, "Nine Lives". "Cant Find My Way Home", from his days in "Blind Faith" and "Traffic's" "Dear Mr. Fantasy" kept his set from being a total loss.
    It's hard to believe, but it's been 30 years since Tom Petty's first appearence in the Philadelphia area following their self-titled 1976 debut, opening for RUSH at the Tower Theatre. Now what’s really hard to believe is that I was at that show myself, and what a great double-bill show at the very small intimate Tower Theatre.
    As the lights went out and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers hit the stage, opening with "You Wreck Me," followed by "Mary Jane's Last Dance," Petty said  “Whoa, baby, sounds like we have a lot of singers out there,” to the sold-out crowd of 20,000 at the Wachovia Center.
    For two hours, Petty & The Heartbreakers dissected his songbook, pulling out his greatest hits while the crowd belted out the choruses to songs like "I Won’t Back Down,” "Free Falling," "Breakdown," "The Waiting," "Face In The Crowd," "Learning To Fly" and "Don’t Come Around Here No More".
    On the first of back-to-back nights at the Wachovia Center, Petty and his band fed off the ear-piercing crowd, delivering a flawless set of American "Rock and Roll" with Petty strutting around the stage, putting his 30 years of showmanship to work.
    With no new album to promote, Petty treated the audience to a few other gems like "End Of The Line" from his days in The Traveling Wilburys, and "Honey Bee,” from Petty's 1994 solo album, "Wildflowers," and even throwing in “Sweet William,” a 1999 B-side which had Petty's most die-hard fans twitching to go home and search out the hidden gem.
    "Saving Grace," the lead single from Petty's latest effort, "Highway Companion," was the only song in the set released in the past 14 years, as he focused on his most celebrated songs for the arena show.
    During the encore, Petty and the band paid tribute to the late Bo Diddley, in between "Runnin' Down A Dream" and the summer anthem "American Girl," with Bo Diddley's trademark sound in the form of "Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger," before segueing into the slow burn of "Mystic Eyes" by Van Morrison.
 – Gary Crouthamel, concert photo journalist
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