Wednesday, august 19, 1981
1H
daily nebraskan
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Tom Petty
Photo by Mark Billingsley
Tom Petty lives up to hype
in sold out Omaha concert
By Pat Higgins
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ful
filled their promise of good solid rock and
roil last Saturday night at the Omaha Civic
Auditorial before an enthusiastic full
house.
Petty, nattily decked out in a stylish
Hawaiian shirt, was in fine form, as were
his underpublicized Heartbreakers. They did
material from all four of their wildly suc
cessful LPs, ranging from a superb version
of "1 Need to Know" to the current favor
ites from this year's Hard Ptvmises.
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Petty appeared to be having an excellent
time while rocking out. He also had enough
C'ass not to pander to theiowest common
denominator instincts of the audience, un
so many other bands.
Rivals Springsteen
Only Bruce Springsteen rivals Tom
Jetty as the king of mainstream rock to
The concert Saturday had the air of a
major event, somewhat on the same level
excitement as a Springsteen perform
nce. The Omaha FM station hyped "the
wow endlessly before and after and in a
ry slick move played non-stop Petty
Meetly after theshow was over.
Petty appears to be universally respect
ca by all segments of the record-buying
pubiic T-shirt clad people, endorsed every
JJg from New Wave to jazz. A huge num
ber of Petty shirts were hawked at the con
cert too. v
Petty writes great songs that may even
j .beter than Springsteen himself and he
's just as dramatic without being over
D'wn about it. Plus, Petty doesn't sing
aBout his car very often.
Petty has traditionally been compared
J the Byrds on records, but the Rolling
Jlnes may be more of an apt comparison
Jr the live show. The road crew backstage
Z wearing Phil Jones and the Heart
leakers shirts (Jones is one hot guitar
player from the Keith Richard school).
Petty is able to adopt a wide variety of
emotional stances, ranging from vulner
abilty to passion, which helps make him
a charismatic performer. Like any other
genuine artist, Petty makes music that
you can feel on an emotional level.
Naughty Sweeties
The opening act was the Naughty
Sweeties from L.A., which sounds pretty
awful on paper, but they were surprisingly
good. The high energy lead singer made a
few jaunts into the crowd, and they even
pulled an encore, which is rather unusual
for a crowd waiting for Tom Petty. They
introduced one song as "James Brown
meets Ernest Hemingway."
The Naughty Sweeties (they should lose
the name), discussed the Petty tour.
"We opened up for Tom in Michigan
once and he seemed to enjoy us so he
invited us to go on the road with him,"
said drummer Rollo Smith.
Best night
"Tonight was probably our best night so
far with Tom," said Smith. "Sometimes
there is a lack of inspiration when you are
an opening act."
The Naughty Sweeties have an LP out
on Rhino Records and are due out with an
album on Electra.
"Everybody in LA. is either into punk
or powerpop. Our roots are in old rhythm
and blues," said Smith, "the press always
puts L.A. down, but the energy level is
vprv hiVh if vou co to the right places."
Smith had the usual motivation for be
coming a rocker. "I got into it for the
girls," he said.
Petty has to be regarded as an admirable
fellow for his one-man campaign to keep
record companies from raising prices.
Also worthy of note was the inclusion of
the ultimate garage band classics "Louie,
Louie" and "Shout" that showed Petty's
roots off to full advantage. Three encores
are also an indication that Petty gives 110
percent out there and the number of girls
screaming en masse for their hero had to
be a record of some sort. Tom Petty and
the Heartbreakers should put out a live
album.
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