Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - High Grass Dogs - Live From The Filmore

Starring: The Heartbreakers, Tom Petty Director: Martyn Atkins Original UK Premiere: 1999 Dvd Release: 26th June, 2000 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Colour, Full Screen, PAL, Region 2 Encoding

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Thomas Earl Petty is an American musician. Petty did not have any musical aspirations before Elvis Presley visited his hometown. After working with his early bands Sundowners, Epics & Mudcrutch he began his recording career with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers when the band broke onto the national music scene with their 1976 self-titled debut album. In 1989, Tom Petty released his debut solo album, Full Moon Fever, produced by Jeff Lynne with Mike Campbell. Petty earned a Grammy Award in 1989 for Best Rock Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal for his work with the Traveling Wilburys. His Full Moon Fever was in the Billboard Top Ten chart for over 34 weeks & earned triple-platinum status, along the way spawning such hits as I Wont Back Down, Free Fallin & Runnin Down A Dream. Petty rejoined with the Heartbreakers for his next album, Into the Great Wide Open in 1991. In 1994, Petty released his second solo album, Wildflowers, which earned Petty many Grammy Awards & nominations.

If youre looking for big stage sets, pyrotechnics, theatrical backdrops, costume changes, dancing girls or zippy light shows, this concert probably aint for you. On the other hand, if youre after good music performed superbly by expert musicians before a highly-appreciative audience, then here it is.

Tom & co simply dont care about the visual aspect of their concerts. They seem to take the view that youre here because you love the music. Fair play to them.

Its always worth remembering that Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, either collectively or individually, are responsible for some of the most memorable music to emerge over the last 3 decades. Stevie Nicks, Don Henley, Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow & dozens of others have recruited their help. Well, here they all are, lined up behind the ever-charismatic Tom Petty, delivering some of their finest tunes from the last ten years or so.

And thats the best thing - they dont get bogged down playing the old standards that weve all heard a dozen times before. Instead, we hear several tracks from the about-to-be-released Echo album , reworked acoustic versions of several gems , & highlights from Wildflowers & Full Moon Fever.

On the down side, the last four or five songs are heads-down rockers, somewhat brainlessly so, & dont represent my favourites by any means. It might have been nice to hear a few tracks from Into the Great Wide Open instead.

A few complaints about the DVD itself - the synchronisation between sound & picture tends to slip out of step periodically, which is probably the most frustrating fault a DVD can have, though it invariably catches up with itself presently. Camera-work is curiously haphazard & jerky , & short clips of meaningless backstage activities punctuate throughout, between the songs. Hmmm. For these reasons Ive awarded 3 stars instead of 4 it deserved.

Nevertheless, a must have for any Tom Petty devotee. The soundtrack should have been released as a live album too, in my opinion.

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