Watch Mike Campbell Play Tom Petty Classics On First Ever Solo Tour

Mike Campbell has been an expert musician for over 50 years, however the former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist by no means needed to likelihood to launch an precise solo tour till earlier this month. He’s playing clubs and theaters across America along with his longtime band the Soiled Knobs supporting their 2020 disc Wreckless Abandon and their new LP External Combustion.

Their set is heavy on unique compositions from their two albums, however close to the top of the evening they dip a bit into the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers catalog. At their Wednesday night present at Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, New York, they started that portion of the night with a stripped-down rendition of “Refugee.” “This track was written so way back and is so poignant to me,” Campbell advised the group. “It ties into all the pieces happening on the planet proper now. We’d like to do that for you, and Ukraine, and for my misplaced brother Tom, who wrote this with me.”

They’re additionally taking part in the title monitor to the 1985 Heartbreakers album Southern Accents, a track that Petty solely played on very rare occasions. “Since I’m out right here taking part in and he’s not, sadly, I really feel it’s my duty [to play this] as a result of I really like him,” Campbell stated in Philadelphia on March 17. “I wish to preserve these songs alive. This can be a particular track that he wrote. I don’t wish to pat myself on the again. There’s quite a bit higher singers than me, however I feel I can get inside this tune in all probability greater than anyone aside from him.”

Maybe the spotlight of the present is 1982’s “You Received Fortunate,” which Campbell and the Soiled Knobs stretch out to 12 epic minutes, together with a tiny tease of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon.” The set varies a bit from evening to nighttime, however at Brooklyn Bowl, they wrapped up with 1976’s Fooled Once more (I Dont Like It),” a canopy of Chuck Berry’s “Little Queenie,” and 1989’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream.”

Mike Campbell and the Soiled Knobs proceed their tour Friday night at Tupelo Music Corridor in Derry, New Hampshire. They’ve dates everywhere in the nation for the subsequent couple of months, and in June they’re heading into arenas, amphitheaters and even Wrigley Area to open for Chris Stapleton.

The Heartbreakers haven’t performed collectively since Petty’s dying in 2017. There’s been discuss of a particular Wildflowers present with visitor singers, but it surely stays a far-off risk. “I’m not prepared emotionally to have the Heartbreakers in a room and go ‘1, 2, 3, 4’ and go searching and Tom’s not there,” Campbell advised Rolling Stone in 2020. “I’m sorry. I must grieve a bit of extra to get to that cut-off date, however I’m not in opposition to the thought. I do miss the fellows, however Tom left an enormous gap within the band.”

“It must be nearly a voice from past, nearly like, ‘Guys, do that for me,’” he continued. “If I received that message, I might current it to the opposite guys. Nevertheless it hasn’t been that lengthy. We’re nonetheless grieving very deeply. It’s an enormous loss.”