Check out the bottom of this article for opening acts. ===== Petty Finds Inspiration in San Francisco Rocker returns to Fillmore before launching tour, CD James Sullivan, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, March 5, 1999 ©1999 San Francisco Chronicle URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/03/05/DD77323.DTL&type=music Tom Petty remembers how giddy he was on the last night of the Heartbreakers' historic 20-show run two years ago at the Fillmore. The final show stretched to four hours. ``We just caught a wave, and we were gonna ride it to the beach.'' The adrenaline, he says, carried over into the recording for ``Echo,'' the band's new album, due next month. To jump-start a summer tour, the Heartbreakers begin another Fillmore engagement Sunday; they'll play seven sold-out shows. Before the last time, Petty says, he'd never even been inside the Fillmore. ``I just showed up uninitiated,'' he says. Still, it was his idea. ``The history had a lot to do with it. I wanted to put the band in a residency setting, to play just for the sake of playing. ``We weren't promoting anything. We didn't have any agenda. And it was a very successful experiment for us. I think we enjoyed it more than anything we've ever done with the Heartbreakers.'' One of rock 'n' roll's most consistent performers since his breakthrough more than 20 years ago, the 48-year-old Petty has outlasted punk, New Wave and spandex metal with a straight-ahead style rooted in the British Invasion, pop psychedelia and other radio staples of his Florida childhood. ``We've been very blessed with a loyal audience,'' he says. ``We've just tried to stay honest with them, and that gives us longevity. We've never particularly tried to get into a suit of clothes. ``I knock wood. It's just wonderful that people still want to hear it.'' One bit of proof: Petty's ``Greatest Hits'' is still on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, six years after its release. After Petty issued a few albums billed to himself without the Heartbreakers -- guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, bassist Howie Epstein and drummer Steve Ferrone -- the 1997 Fillmore stay reconfirmed the group's confidence. ``We have a damn good rock 'n' roll band,'' says Petty in his casual drawl. The Fillmore shows ``really played a huge part in inspiring us -- not just to do the record, but to carry on.'' Judging by the first single ``Free Girl Now,'' ``Echo'' finds the Heartbreakers even more direct than usual. Not that the band best known for its buzzing, unfussy rock songs -- ``American Girl,'' ``I Need to Know,'' ``Jammin' Me'' -- has ever been accused of self-indulgence. ``It's a very simple record, very unadorned,'' Petty says. ``People are telling me it's much more of a rock 'n' roll record, in the sense of faster tempos and louder guitars, than what we've done in a while. ``I'm very pleased with it -- more so than I usually am.'' The one medium in which Petty can be considered avant-garde is videos. When his self-titled debut got its first break in England, he became one of the first American artists to make film shorts for his songs. ``In England, it was not that abnormal to make a little promo clip you could send to the TV shows. ``When I was given (MTV's) Video Vanguard award, I said, `All this because we didn't want to go on `Merv Griffin,' '' he says, punctuating the thought with a familiar ``heh-heh.'' Rest assured he won't be mailing in his Fillmore performances. ``No two shows will be the same,'' Petty promises. Confirmed opening acts include Lucinda Williams and War. Two years ago, of special guests included John Lee Hooker and the late Carl Perkins. ``I've been very fortunate. I've developed a lot of friendships with people I admire musically.'' Last time, he says, the Bay Area proved itself the ideal place for the residency ``experiment.'' ``I've always felt that San Francisco has a very open-minded audience. I thought they'd be more open to us performing as a house band, rather than doing a medley of our hits. ``I think I was right.'' ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONCERTS TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS: The band's seven Fillmore shows are sold out.
