Cameron Crowe’s, “Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party” makes big screen debut 40 years after release

Cameron Crowe’s, “Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party” makes big screen debut 40 years after release

By: Kevin Vickery 

When you hear the name, Cameron Crowe, you probably think of his blockbuster hits spanning from the 80’s through the early 2000’s like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”, “Singles”, “Say Anything”, “Jerry Maguire”, and “Almost Famous”.  Being familiar with all these films, I was surprised to hear that Crowe’s first film was a documentary he shot featuring one of my favorite artists of all time, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, as he traveled with the band on their 1982 tour supporting their fifth album, “Long After Dark”. 

The film never made it to the big screen back then and was only shown once on MTV making it basically unknown to the masses until now.  Petty passed away in October of 2017 and was born on October 20th of 1950 so in commemoration of what would have been his 74th birthday, Crowe’s documentary made a limited release for the first time in theaters October 17th & 20th.

As a 30-plus year Tom Petty fan, when I heard about this film in early October, I knew I had to make it to the theater to see it.  Grammy winners and Rock & Roll Hall of Famers, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have been a major influence in my my own style as a singer/songwriter and musician in general but I really only started paying attention to their work in the late ‘80s-early ‘90s with his solo album, “Full Moon Fever” which dominated MTV and the pop/rock charts with singles like, “Runnin’ Down a Dream”, “I Won’t Back Down”, “Free Fallin’”, and “ Yer So Bad”. 

I was hooked on his unique sound and style often described as “heartland rock” and continued to closely follow his career through his following albums like “Wildflowers”, “Echo”, and “ The Last DJ”, but also dove into the music from the earlier part of his career which is the focus of Cameron Crowe’s “Rocumentary”.

Crowe has an inside perspective of Petty and the band as they toured in 1983, traveling on the tour bus with them, hanging out backstage, in the recording studio and even on set for the video shoot of “You Got Lucky” which was shot in the desert and has a sort of old west cowboys meets interstellar travelers, Mad Max type vibe.

He and his film crew captured candid moments with the original line-up of The Heartbreakers which includes Petty’s long time collaborators, lead guitarist, Mike Campbell, keyboardist, Bentmont Tench, as well as drummer, Stan Lynch and the transition of original bassist, Ron Blair into Howie Epstein.  Ironically, after a 20 year hiatus from the band, Blair returned and replaced his own replacement just before Epstein’s death in 2002.

The Heartbreakers Beach Party film features in depth interview segments where Crowe spends time riding around LA in a limo with Tom Petty, picking his brain on his song writing process and getting his thoughts on being successful in the music industry. 

There’s also a detailed interview segment with Petty explaining the process of how he wrote the guitar riff and eventually the lyrics for his hit song, “The Waiting”, as well as really cool footage of he and Stevie Nicks collaborating in studio for their first takes on their duet collaborations, “Insider”, and, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”. The film also features some fairly random clips of Petty performing never released songs like, “Beach Party”, the Elvis Presley and Del Shannon hit, “His Latest Flame”, and a tour bus jam called, “I’m Stupid” in which Petty and guitarist, Mike Campbell seem to be simply making it up as they go along, reminding me of something my bandmates and I might do for kicks out of boredom.

Overall, I found Crowe’s film to be entertaining and a very informative introspective into an artist who I followed closely and been heavily influenced by for decades. I believe Petty’s music is timeless and I’ve added cover versions of his material to my own band’s set lists for years.  I’ve always had success with the crowd when playing his hits like “Breakdown”, “You Wreck Me”, and, “You Don’t Know How it Feels”, but no Petty song gets a Hoosier crowd on their feet faster than, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” which opens with the line, “She grew up in an Indiana town….”.  

With a career spanning over 40 years, his 16 albums combined with The Heartbreakers and as a solo artist, 28 top ten charting singles, including his work with super-group, The Traveling Wilburys, and over 80 million records sold worldwide, Tom Petty has definitely left an extensive collection of work behind for his fans to remember him by and keep his legacy alive for generations to come.

I’ve been asked by readers to share some of my past experiences in the music industry and with concerts I’ve attended over the years. Since I’m talking about Tom Petty, I can’t imagine a better time to share a couple stories about the two best shows of the handful of times I’ve seen him perform live.

On July 21st, 2005 my long time friend and bandmate, Ben Long from Anderson and I made our way to Noblesville to see Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers with special guests, The Black Crowes at the venue I was always call Deer Creek.  It was a special tour because The Heartbreakers were coming off a two year hiatus and The Black Crowes founding Robinson Brothers, had recently reunited to record their “Lions” album and tour to support it. 

We had great seats under the pavilion and The Black Crowes opened the show with a great performance but we could tell trouble was in the air when the wind picked up and the PA stacks that hang above the stage were swaying so badly that they were lowered down to stage level. Their set was cut short and as Ben said, “The Crowes played a great set but I remember Chris Robinson trying to look cool while still keeping an eye on the PA speakers”.

Ben continued, “When Tom Petty came out, the crowd totally embraced him. That’s when I think I realized how many Petty tunes are part of my life’s soundtrack. When everyone knows every word, it’s an amazing thing to be a part of at a show.”

It wasn’t long until the sky took on a dark, ominous look – then came the booming thunder and more lightning than I’ve ever seen in one place. That was followed by the downpour of sideways rain that soaked us to the bone even though we were well under the pavilion. As the storm continued it wreaked havoc upon the video screens and  sound system. By today’s safety protocol, the band would have left the stage and the crowd evacuated but not in 2005.

I love when Ben tells this part of the story, “Total highlight was during the storm that should have literally ripped the roof off of the pavilion, “Refugee” was being played. All power went out during a chorus. The crowd kept singing the chorus until the power came back on. The band came back in with us. Then the power went out again. Same thing. Must have been nearly five minutes that the crowd kept the song going. Slowly, amplifier lights started coming on and instruments started coming back to life. The crowd never stopped. Never got weaker. When Tom Petty’s microphone 
Came back on, he just said “Far out”.  They finished the song and show. I remember leaving that night knowing that we’d been part of something way beyond cool. I’ll never forget it. It seemed like everyone else leaving the show felt the same way.”

I totally agree with Ben’s take on that night and will also never forget that show.  I’ve never been so happy to be drive home in soaking wet jeans and boots.

My other story is of the last time that I ever had the pleasure of seeing Tom Petty perform live. On May 31st of 2016, I returned to my old stomping grounds of Nashville, TN to see Petty perform with his reunited, original band, Mudcrutch at the historic Ryman Auditorium. If you know anything about Nashville then you know that  as the original home of “The Grand Ol Opry”, The Ryman is considered as sacred ground to all artists and well known as music’s most iconic stage. Seeing one of your favorite artists perform there automatically makes it special.

It is a smaller, more intimate venue than you’d expect to see Tom Petty perform but this was a Mudcrutch tour and many even well seasoned Heartbreakers fans aren’t aware that this was Petty’s original band from Gainesville, FL in the 70’s. The band also includes founding Heartbreakers members, Mike Campbell and Bentmont Tench. The trio reunited with original Mudcrutch members, Tom Leadon, and Randall Marshall, recorded two albums and set out on this tour of smaller venues.

Their sound is more of a country-rock style than fans have become accustomed to from Tom Petty.  I love their music and was so excited to see them perform especially because in this line up Petty fronts the band not only as lead singer but also as bassist.  He was great that night leading the band through the Mudcrutch material like, “Scare Easy” and “Trailer”  as well as a few classic country deep cuts like one of my personal bluegrass standards, “Shady Grove”.

The whole band sounded excellent but the highlight for me was definitely seeing Tom Petty thumping away on his vintage Hofner and Rickenbacker basses. Because of his notoriety as a singer/guitarist I believe his bass skills are unfairly overlooked. Not only was he the bassist in Mudcruth and The Traveling Wilburys, but he also recorded the bass lines on his solo albums and on many of Johnny Cash’s later albums as well. 

Since his death in 2017, the Tom Petty Estate has continued to release merchandise for fans like limited edition vinyl records, custom art pieces, and their latest – a Deluxe version of the, “Long After Dark” album featuring 45 minutes of previously unreleased audio and video material. With any luck, hopefully they’ll partner with Cameron Crowe and release a DVD version of “Tom Petty: A Heartbreakers Beach Party” so we can all enjoy it at home.

For more information about Tom Petty merchandise visit http://tompetty.com

To keep up with the current projects of Heartbreakers member Mike Campbell go to http://thedirtyknobs.com