Page 8-Tuesday, July 15,
In . m., i
1980-The Michigan Daily
9
m ww-~
TOM PETTY
A
By PAT'
It's been a slow s
so far in New York
are choosing to eit
tan altogether or
smaller-capacity
just breaking even
recording industry
the big shows have
this season, the qu
ces has likewise
turn: Billy Joel,v
city's mammoth l
den for five sold-ou
panned by all of U
writers, prompti
hometown-boy-mal
stack of New York
night after a part
drubbing in that ne
Although Joel's s
well-received by t
refugee comes
TI DIETZ lucky enough to get their hands on figua
tickets, there was surprisingly enough, the
ummer for concerts a large amount of disappointment rock
City. Many top acts, voiced. All of which goes to show that play
her bypass Manhat- this summer the majority of Manhat- Disc
play in the city's tanites are too busy shaking their stuff P
venues in hopes of at rock dancehalls like the Mudd Club and
in the waning of the and Irving Plaza to care very much befit
's financial crises. If about the quality of the performances mos
e been sadly lacking. that cost upwards of $10.50 to see. Eag
uality of performan- I THUS APPROACHED Tom Petty over
taken a downward and The Heartbreakers' show-one of only
who moved into the three during the July 4th weekend-at New
ladison Square Gar- the mid-sized Palladium on New York's rock
t shows, was roundly lower East Side, a decadent, seedy wha
he are's major rock theatre-turned-concert-shdwplace be- Yor
ng this smart-ass fitting a Patti Smith (yes, it's her oc- esp
kes-good to tear up a casional hang out, too). Not highly ds t
k Times onstage one regarding this particular New York alm
icularly apt critical crowd's ability to distinguish between a to r
wspaper. whorthwile performance and a sub- stad
hows were generally standard one any more than their PE
he throng who were fellow rock addicts anywhere else, I beex
to New
red Petty's triumphant return to <
East Coast as a newfangled f
hero would go over big even if he b
yed selections from Mickey Mouse c
o.
etty is Southern California's newest t
most promising rock star, and,
tting that state, is also one of its ,
st smug (second only to The ]
les). Publicists love to jump all a
r Californian rock commodities if <
yfor the glory of bringing an act to
York, shaking it in the faces of the
circles here, and gloating "lookit i
t we found." It's no wonder New 1
kers-and its rock press 1
ecially-are definitely wary of tren- l
hat blow eastward. Why, it took us
ost a year after Heart Like A Wheel I
eally pay attention to Linda Ron- 1
[t.
etty is no newcomer, however; he's i
n knocking around Los Angeles 4
PRIME RIB
RARE PRICE.
York
clubs since the mid-'70's, straddling the
fence between New Wave and hard rock
backed by a cult following. Striking it big
on only his third album is actually ad-
mirable. But the aura of Southern
Californian hype surrounding him is
undeniable (though he originally hails
from Florida), from the attendance of
Miss El Lay herself, Joni Mitchell,
right down to Petty's Jox sneakers. I'm
almost disappointed I didn't hear
"mellow" one time all evening.
I CAN'T SEE what all the excitement
is about regarding T.P. and The Hear-
tbreakers, and, it seemed, neither could
the Palladium crowd who listened to
Petty attentively and patiently. They
showed signs of life only during the two
encores, too late in the set for Petty to
take advantage of this energy that, I
assume, he is used to receiving steadily
from audiences. Rock and roll
delirium-what Petty and company
must expect following the huge success
of Damn The Torpedoes- itcertainly
was not. It was an older crowd,
too (mid- to late-twenties), and Petty
seemed content to make us all
adolescent again (typical S. Californian
youth ploy) by-sweeping the audience
with his spotlights, and enducing us, in
vain, to clap manically along with the
music.
Apart from this silliness, and Petty's
tiresome, forced effervesence, the man
is backed' by a truly excellent band.
Petty deserves points for keeping his
original Heartbreakers intact since the
first release in 1976, Tom Petty, using
them both on tour and in the studio.
What Petty lacks is showmanship. The
Heartbreakers-make up for in tight en-
semble playing. Petty proved he is
dispensible as a vocalist on Torpedoes'
"What Are You.Doin' In My Life?" and
the first LP's "Fooled Again (I Don't
Like I)" while, musically, The Hear-
tbreakers moved through their
material in a way that made Tom seem
to be playing second string.
The producer of both Parker's
current release, The Up Escalator, and
Damn The Torpedoes, Jimmy Iovine
was hailed onstage by Petty, and had
lovine been given the chance, his voice
of experience would have no doubt told
Petty that the pacing of his show was,
at best, top heavy. Petty's hits
"Refugee," "Here Comes My Girl,"
and "Don't Do Me Like That" all came
relatively early in his hour and 45-
minute set, and he left nothing exciting
for his encore except "Century City,"
which paled by comparison to the
studio version. Only "Breadkdown"
and the Roger McGuinn-cloned
"American Girl"-the latter so
reminiscent of McGuinn that Roger,
himself, recorded it-seemed worthy of
applause.
Muchof Petty's material sounds
vaguely alike; "I Need To Know" and
"Even The Losers" are so similarly
structured they could be the same tune.
Performed live, consequently, they
seem to blur together, and it is only the
precision with which The Hear-
tbreakers salvage themselves from
such monotony that is laudable.
Whether Petty will become a convin-
cing showlman and learn how to sing
remains to be seen. Damn The Tor-
pedoes, as a recording, rightly earned
him a wider spectrum of listeners, but
from here, Petty and The Hear-
tbreakers have no direction to go but
forward.
6
I
6
6
Generous cut of tender juicy Prime Rib
roasted to perfection.
Crisp, garden fresh salad.
Your choice of
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Fresh bread and butter
$7095
At a time when most things are going up, we're doing some-
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I
6
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300 South Maple
Ann Arbor, 66s-1133
Valid through
September 11, 1980.
The American Exi
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