Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - 1999-04-23 - The Docks, Hamburg, Germany

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
1999-04-23
Rockpalast, The Docks, Hamburg, Germany 
Soundboard recording, excellent quality
Available in both Lossless (FLAC) and Mp3 (320 kbps) versions

Continuing with the musical history of Tom Petty: Following the 1995 tour, Petty's next album (which was with The Heartbreakers) was Songs and Music from the Motion Picture "She's Te One" (1996). But this was more than just a 'soundtrack' album, as it was a full album of new music from Tom & The Boys, much of which was featured in the Edwards Burns film, She's The One. The album consisted of a mix of new songs and some that were holdovers from the Wildflowers sessions, as well as a couple intriguing covers, and was consistent with the styles explored in Wildflowers. The album's best-known songs was 'Walls' (which is one of my all-time favorite Petty songs). There was no tour in support of the album and it did not have the same degree of success as most previous albums (only reaching Gold status, instead of Platinum or beyond).  Petty's next album was Echo in 1999, and is probably his most underrated album. Even Petty himself has indicated he was not happy with this album. However, his feelings about the album are probably more closely related to what he was going through at the time, rather than the musical content of the album, which is excellent. These years (mid-late '90's) were a dark period for Petty, as he was going through rough times, with the pressures and self-examination of a failing marriage, then difficult divorce, and the unsettled aftermath. After his divorce, he lived alone and somewhat isolated from others. In addition, as we have only recently learned (through the Petty biography by Warren Zanes - 2015), during this period he was also struggling with heroin addiction. The songs on Echo are some of his darkest, but also very personal and revealing, and overall a musically excellent album. However, once the album was behind him, he didn't want to look back on it at all, it was too painful to relive. He never listened to it, and after the 1999 tour never played songs from it on subsequent tours (although interestingly, he did include 'Swingin' on some dates on his final tour (2017)). Fortunately, Petty eventually recovered from his funk, and kicked his drug habit, as greatly helped (and probably made possible) by his developing relationship with Dana York, who nursed him through the drug recovery period. It was also Dana (who he married in 2001) who, many years later, urged him to re-listen to and re-discover Echo, and he found that, yes, it really was a good album after all. Here is a great recording of a great show from the 1999 tour (This show was broadcast on European TV - Rockpalast, from Germany, and full video from the show is available). These 1999 shows are really the only place to hear live versions of the songs from this period. This show features 2 songs from She's the One, 'Walls' and 'Angel Dream' (and by the way, this acoustic version of 'Walls', played only on this tour, is without doubt the best version of this song available, so evocative and beautiful), and 4 from Echo, 'Swingin', 'Room at the Top', 'Free Girl Now', and 'I Don't Wanna Fight', which is one of the only songs Mike Campbell ever sang lead on. This show also features numerous covers, ranging from old-school Rock and Blues ('Round & Round', 'Lucille', 'Call Me The Breeze', 'Guitar Boogie Shuffle') to bluegrass ('Little Maggie') to 60's rock classics ('Pipeline', 'Green Onions', 'Gloria', 'For What It's Worth'), and Petty also features each member of the band to a greater degree than usual (even Scott Thurston gets his own song to sing). A great show, you would never know that Petty was having any problems based on these performances. Also, if you are a Petty fan, but haven't checked out Echo previously (for whatever reason), by all means do so, it is definitely worth it, and an important part of the Petty legacy. 

Tracklist:
1) Round & Round
2) Jammin' Me
3) Runnin' Down A Dream
4) Breakdown
5) Call Me The Breeze
6) Swingin'
7) Don't Do Me Like That
8) Pipeline
9) Mary Jane's Last Dance
10) I Won't Back Down
11) Listen To Her Heart
12) Green Onions
13) It's Good To Be King
14) Lucille
15) Little Maggie (Scott Thurston lead)
16) Lay Down That Old Guitar
17) Walls
18) Angel Dream
19) For What It's Worth
20) Room At The Top
21) Guitar Boogie Shuffle
22) American Girl
23) Honey Bee
24) I Don't Wanna Fight (Mike Campbell lead)
25) You Wreck Me
26) Free Girl Now
27) Free Fallin'
28) Gloria
29) Learning To Fly

FLAC - Tom Petty_1999-04-23_Hamburg_FLAC.rar

Mp3 - Tom Petty_1999-04-23_Hamburg_mp3.part1.rar
           Tom Petty_1999-04-23_Hamburg_mp3.part2.rar

Links updated 09/18/21