Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Los Angeles CA: October 11 2014

A little bit of a break in the concert calendar, but off to a great start again with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at The Forum in Los Angeles with Stevie Winwood as the opening act. This was a special show as this was Tom Petty’s  last show of their north American tour. We decided to go to LA to see the show as it was the weekend of Toni’s birthday and Tom Petty is one of her most favorite bands. This was also the first concert with my new camera (after dropping and breaking my last one), so I was a little nervous that I may not get too many good shots, but after a few misses and some learning through half of the Steve Winwood show, I was able to get it dialed in. It is a new Nikon S9700 (Nikon makes the best cameras for low light) and I love it!

Steve Winwood put on a great opening act. They came out promptly at 7:30 and jammed out just a ton of great old music. He played great hits from throughout his musical history with The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith and his solo stuff. I just love his sound and have been wanting to see him for years, but have never had the chance. He played such hits as I’m a Man (The Spencer Davis Group song), Can’t Find My Way Home (Blind Faith song), Dear Mr. Fantasy (Traffic song), Gimme Some Lovin’ (The Spencer Davis Group song) and Higher Love. What an incredible history of music.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers came on just around 9:00pm opening with Rock & Roll Star. They sounded absolutely amazing in the Forum.. The sound in this venue is phenomenal and looks great inside. We had VIP tickets and were able to get into the venue about an hour before they opened the doors to the public and got to wonder around before the crowds showed up; get a little food; a few drinks and T-shirts without the line…pretty nice.  They played all their greatest hits such as Mary Jane’s Last Dance, Don’t do me Like That, Free Fallin’, Learning to Fly, Refugee and Runnin’ Down a Dream. Great set, with a three song encore with You Wreck Me, Don’t Come Around Here and American Girl.

What a trip down for a quick overnight in LA. We were able to spend lunch time in Venice beach, crash for an hour or so at the hotel before the show and enjoy three plus hours of incredible music before getting up at 4:00am to head back to Seattle.