Into the great wide open – mourning concert for Tom Petty with The Virtues at Debaser Strand
Posted: December 11th, 2017 | Author: David Myhr | Filed under: post | Comments Off on Into the great wide open – mourning concert for Tom Petty with The Virtues at Debaser StrandA little over two months ago, on October 2, Tom Petty left this world. Only a couple of hours after the news I wrote like this in this post on Facebook:
I can’t believe it!!! This brought me to tears. Tom Petty is no longer with us! My greatest American rock’n’roll hero! American rock at its best, but with a magic pop feel with its roots in British 60’s pop. And that voice. And those songs… For thirty years, he has been a constant companion in the soundtrack to my life and one of my true great musical inspirations. I just love him and his music so much. But not just me. Everybody loved Tom! Almost all of my musician friends do. His Traveling Wilburys friends Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Bob Dylan surely did. Del Shannon and Johnny Cash, and countless more did. I mean who else than Tom Petty had half The Beatles backing him up in a rock video (see the very end of this post)?
Speaking of his relation to The Beatles (and particulary his very close relation to George Harrison), I remember he once said:
“-I still think the Beatles [made] the best music ever, and I’m sure I’ll go to my grave thinking the same thing”.
I was hoping though that day would be another twenty or more years away. After The Beatles, together with Jellyfish, for me Tom Petty & Heartbreakers was my biggest musical inspiration. So glad I got to see him live in Sweden in -93 and -12, and with my wife Paula at The Hollwyood Bowl in -06 (when he also invited up Jeff Lynne on stage). Thank you for everything, Tom!!! Rest in peace. “You belong among the wildflowers. You belong somwhere you feel free”. 
Twenty-three days later I was invited to be one of the guest singers at a concert arranged by Debaser (Stockholm’s leading rock club) where my friends in the great band The Virtues (their Facebook-page here) were to play and where we’d all get the chance to mourn Tom Petty together. They made an absolutely fantastic performance which is supposed to have been filmed and recorded. So fingers crossed it will materilize some day in the future. Until then I am only able to share a couple of clips of when I jumped up on stage.
First, one of my all time favorite pop songs in the world ever. “American Girl”:
It was also a great honour to sing George Harrison‘s part together with Peter Jacobsson Morén on the classic “Handle With Care”. It dawned upon me that nowadays I’m as old as Bob Dylan was when the song was released. No wonder I love “dad-rock”! Although it’s true I’ve loved it since my teens…
I like to think Tom Petty is now together somewhere with George and Roy, cracking jokes, and playing the ukulele.
Here’s a throwback to happier times when I welcomed Tom Petty to Stockholm back in 2012 by singing his song Wildflowers.
And lastly – a nostalgic throwback to the MTV years… Tom and Mike Campbell with Jeff Lynne and… half the Beatles!!!
Rest in peace, Tom. You will be missed.