Berkeley Photos and Recap

News

< Go Back
  • Berkeley Photos and Recap
    The Greek Theatre
    Berkeley, CA
    August 22, 28, 30, 2017
     
    On February 17-19, 1977, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers played three sold-out shows at The Keystone, the legendary rock club in downtown Berkeley played by the likes of Jerry Garcia, Ray Charles, The Talking Heads, The Ramones, Metallica and B.B King, among many more.
     
    It was the start of the band’s first cross-country tour supporting their debut album, and the Keystone shows were the springboard, hurtling the band east to shows in the Midwest, East Coast and, ultimately, Europe. 
     
    The Keystone closed its doors in 1984, but onstage a few miles away at the Greek Theatre on the first night of the band’s three shows on the University of California campus, Tom Petty hadn’t forgotten the hospitality and enthusiasm shown to the Heartbreakers on those three nights by the Berkeley faithful a little more than 40 years ago.
     
    “We’ve been coming here since 1977,” Tom said after a rip-roaring “Yer So Bad." “We played three shows at this club in town called The Keystone on our first tour, and you all have been coming back ever since. I can’t thank you enough for that. It means the world to us."
     
    Following the first show at The Greek, Tom came down with laryngitis and was forced to postpone the second and third shows in Berkeley and a show in Sacramento for one week.
     
    Back fully rested and recuperated, Tom was in high spirits at The Greek on Monday night, thanking the crowd for their understanding the need to push back the shows before leading the Heartbreakers through a two-hour-plus show that touched on nearly every era of their storied career. Highlights include a great “Into The Great Wide Open, “ a haunting “Crawling Back To You” with beautiful background vocals from Scott Thurston and the Webb Sisters and an epic “Learning to Fly” with Tom backed by a chorus of 9,000 fans while archival footage of the band played on the video screen behind them onstage.
     
    For the last night in Berkeley, Tom pulled out one of the band’s oldest hits in their catalog - “Breakdown” from their self-tilted 1977 debut. The 2017 Greek Theatre version was fantastic, with a beautiful intro from Steve Ferrone and Mike Campbell, siren-song ooohs and aaahs from the Webb Sisters and Tom, alone centerstage at the end of the song, his forehead pressed against the microphone.

     

    August 22nd & 28th, 2017

     

    Rockin’ Around With You

    Mary Jane’s Last Dance

    You Don’t Know How It Feels

    Forgotten Man

    Into The Great Wide Open

    I Won’t Back Down

    Free Fallin’

    Walls

    Don’t Come Around Here No More

    It’s Good To Be King

    Crawling Back to You

    Wildflowers

    Learning to Fly

    Yer So Bad

    I Should Have Known It

    Refugee

    Runnin’ Down A Dream

     

    You Wreck Me

    American Girl

     

    August 30th, 2017

     

    Rockin’ Around With You

    Mary Jane’s Last Dance

    You Don’t Know How It Feels

    Forgotten Man

    Breakdown

    I Won’t Back Down

    Free Fallin’

    Walls

    Don’t Come Around Here No More

    It’s Good To Be King

    Crawling Back to You

    Wildflowers

    Learning to Fly

    Yer So Bad

    I Should Have Known It

    Refugee

    Runnin’ Down A Dream

     

    You Wreck Me

    American Girl

     
     
     
     
    General