![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() To be honest, he looks more jittery offstage than on. The crowds are still there, something Petty is clearly proud of when we sit down in a hotel room on an off day. Petty even grins through a joyous version of “Walls,” from 1996’s She’s the One, an album he’s complained about for nearly 20 years. Petty ends the next few songs strumming in front of the drum set, trading man-crush smiles with drummer Steve Ferrone (Tench jokes, “They should get a room”). The band takes the stage and blows through “Rockin’ Around (With You),” the first song on its self-titled first album, from 1976. Petty rarely describes himself as the leader of his band, but as “the older brother they sometimes have to listen to.” Tonight, he gives Blair some fatherly assurance and a toothy Southern smile: “Let me be nervous for you.” “I’m kinda nervous, you know,” says Blair in a quiet voice. He wanders into Petty and cops to something you’re not likely to admit to your bandleader unless you’ve known him for 40 years. Bassist Ron Blair has battled stage fright for years since rejoining the Heartbreakers in 2002, after a 20-year sanity break. Keyboardist Benmont Tench is tweeting about the sad state of our country under Donald Trump. Backstage, Petty is in his dressing room putting on a frontier rebel’s headdress to fight the chill. It’s about an hour before Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers play Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre for what may be the last time. ![]()
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