Venue:
Hyde Park, London
Date: 09/07/2017
There’s a song from a lesser-known Tom Petty album, 2002’s The Last DJ, which rails against large outdoor gigs. “They sat in golden circles/And waiters served them wine … And way up in the nosebleeds/We watched him on the screen/They’d hung between the billboards/So cheaper seats could see”. This is the Hyde Park experience, and Tom Petty has become part of this – not that I blame him. He last came to the UK in 2012, and may not play here again, so he’s playing to Hyde Park sized places. My £65 ticket (plus fees) gets me the basic admission, which gets me about 100 yards from the main stage at best. If I were to empty my wallet further, I might get in the silver section, a crescent nearer the acts, or the gold section, nearest the front. My friend who works in the city got a ticket in the still-more-rarefied VIP garden, a grandstand slightly to one side of the stage, commanding a raised view of the stage, and possibly featuring butlers, caviar on ice and executive relief.
Back in the plebs’ area, we have the option of a huge amount of bars made up to look like a Cuban street, all selling the same five drinks. There’s an impressive array of food stalls at prices that make one raise an eyebrow, but not wince. There’s also the grim spectacle of an enclosure sponsored by a Champagne company replete with scowling bouncers, a viewing platform and about 50 polo-shirted arseholes.
The supporting bill is a procession of earnest, yelpy Americana acts. All male performers have facial hair. There are a lot of broad-brimmed black hats, Gibson acoustics and BBC2 harmonies. They’re all perfectly pleasant to my ears apart from the Lumineers, who ramp up all of these tropes into an irritating, hoedowning, hipsterish blandness. However, all is not lost: our main support is Stevie Nicks, who casts her highly polished but wonderfully engaging spell over the tipsy multitudes. She is everything that we want her to be in a set that has all the solo hits and all the Mac favourites. When she closes her show with an unadorned Landslide, the W2 postcode suddenly becomes very dusty indeed.
And before we know it, here are Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, for whom I have an almost unreasonable fondness. A quick check online confirms that they have been playing almost exactly the same set every night on this tour, but the charm with which they put it across makes it feel like the set list was scribbled on the back of an envelope minutes before they came on. Tom is chunkier than his pomp and plods about the stage instead of the tiggerish bouncing of yore, but is engaging and charming. The Heartbreakers are tight and, with the addition of ex-Cohen sidewomen the Webb sisters, sound huge. We get most of the hits (though no The Waiting or Breakdown) and a bit too much of the Wildflowers album. But never mind that! A break from the usual set brings Stevie Nicks back on for Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around and the atmosphere ramps up a gear. By the time they finish with American Girl, everyone’s happy. We sang along to a great deal of classic rock in hot weather. Despite the class divides, the £6 pints and the limited sightlines, I can’t complain that much at all. We got our money’s worth.
The audience:
A large percentage of daytrippers who could have got drunk and bellowed along to almost any large musical act, and a smattering of big fans who knew every word. Not as many Stevie clones as I expected, though they may have shelled out for the golden section.
It made me think..
Most of the punters were unperturbed by the prices, the lack of Rock-and-Rollness (Pizza Express or Katzu Curry, darling?) and the caste system in place. Having not been to an outdoor gig like this for years, I wasn’t ready for it, but might learn to accept that this is how enomo-gigs are now. I’ll never embrace it, though.
Great review of a gig I dearly wanted to go to. My friends, knowing my love of all things TP&TH, and of Stevie, cannot believe I didn’t get tickets. But my 60 year old knees are shot to pieces (standing for 3 hours at Ian Hunter, the other night, nearly crippled me for the walk back to the Tube), I have never been comfortable sitting on the ground (‘supple’ and my body have never been in the same sentence) and the raised ‘special viewing area,’ at £549 a pop, made that an obscene option.
So I played my fave Tom tracks at home, yesterday (funnily enough, lots of them from Wildflowers), gave the Stevie stuff a blast, and suffered in silence.
I’m really glad it was a good gig. Like Springsteen, Tom is one of the live acts that should be cherished – we won’t see their like again.
Actually sounds slightly less unbearable than I would anticipate. And 6 drinks is more than even smallish venues, especially if run on the oxygen of phone companies
50 polo shirted arseholes TMFTL
stripped down road band 5 polo shirted arseholes
Well I thought it was a fab day out. Tom Petty and band were sensational and I am glad they played the trio of songs from Wildflowers as it is my favourite album – also pleased that we got Walls. Take out the Hypnotic Eye track and replace it with Breakdown and it could have been perfect.
It was my 5th visit to Hyde Park so knew what to expect. My wife and I dined before we got there and only need a splendid German sausage in the evening with a few beers. The sound has improved immeasurably or we picked a better place as last night it was crystal clear.
Couple of comments on your review – agree the Lumineers were mildly irritating. James Hunter is not American and has no facial hair. The Shelters were very good especially when they added the Yardbirds Over under sideways down riff into one of their songs. A band to look out for.
Question from a short person. Looks like a big patch of completely flat ground. Being 5 foot 4 I assume I would spend my time staring at the shoulder blades of the yob in front of me.
Yobs don’t like Tom Petty.
And, as I once heard a cashier remark, chavs don’t have Nectar cards.
I was thinking as I got there, maybe I should have done a ATM before I got there to see what advice you folks could give about the outdoor experience. I’ll admit we got there about 4pm, so my opinions of the supporting turns are limited, and I’ll check out the Shelters. The sound was very good, wasn’t it? The syncing with the staggered large screens was impressive. I had a bratwurst too!
I really like Forgotten Man (the Hypnotic Eye track) but would have changed a few others. Junior, there was quite a lot of space further back, you could pretty much sit down and view the screens from the right spot. I think we got a good spot too, allowing for the enforced distance. We stood for most of it and had a lot of personal space.
Yebbut if,like, I wanted to see humans rather than a live video.
Is there no slope, are there no stands ?
Walls is a brilliant song.
I saw Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Albert Hall in 2012 and they were superb. Would’ve gone again if it was indoors, certainly the RAH was perfect. But I cant stand the outdoor gigs now, the 02 isn’t much better. I heard that to get into Hyde Park they take all your food and drink from you, (a moan, perhaps best left for another thread, im a type 1 diabetic and taking all your food/drink and then charging you the earth to get into a public park/buy their food/drink? Takes the p…………moan, moan, moan!)
But a good review, glad you enjoyed. Wouldn’t mind seeing Stevie either but thems the breaks if you want to see the big acts. Costs a lot in more ways than one.
The taking away of food and drink is by no means a new thing, unfortunately.
About 10 years ago a friend and I went to see Richard Thompson & band at Shepherd’s Bush Empire and they confiscated her (still-sealed) bottle of water on entry.
They wouldn’t let me bring in a nectarine and a Brunch bar which did seem a tad excessive.
That’s the Afterwordest post ever.
Why thank you
T-Shirt!!!
I’m not remotely an argumentative person but as a fellow type 1 diabetic, I would have kicked up a fuss if they had tried to take food away from me.
Mind you, I’ve been known to smuggle a smallish baguette (up my sleeve, smuggling fact fans) into an outdoor day festival before now because the food and drink thing adds such an enormous whack to the cost of the ticket.
I think you should know that when this post appears in Updates, it stops after the word “my”. I was most relieved to find the rest of the post to be as wholesome as, er, a baguette.
Great review which sums things up nicely. Have never done Hyde Park before and if it hadn’t been TP who I’ve never seen I doubt if I’d have been tempted. I therefore went as a big fan but with low expectation of the venue.
However the sun shone, the merch and food prices were what they were and it was a pleasant way to spend a summers afternoon.
Being of shorter stature I got what I expected snatched glances at a stage which was a long way away along with the video screen. My 9year old spent most of the concert on my shoulders though and had a fine old time. Listening to him bellow lyrics back at the stage and air drum along with Steve Ferrone are memories we’ll cherish. He reckoned it was better than Bruce who he saw last summer, I’m not so sure but it was very good and the Good to be King extended section was excellent.
Would I do Hyde Park again, only if it was someone on the wishlist and there was little chance of an indoor gig. And with that in mind TP ticked all the boxes.
Thanks all.
I’d have loved to go and was offered decent tickets by someone but I couldn’t face the neg side you describe. Glad you enjoyed it though – you can’t argue with Stevie and Tom and I’d have loved to have heard that “Landslide”.
Petty has been on my bucket list for years and I went along too, mostly out of curiosity. And I was pleasantly surprised. It was the perfect lazy Sunday evening park gig: mid tempo and ultra-cool American guitar rock’n’roll.
As you say, the band were absolutely brilliant and Tom is certainly a different sort of front man from the preening, posturing right-on rock stars who usually headline Hyde Pk festivals.
I’m most familiar with the band’s late70s/80s work, so I’d hoped to hear a few more songs from the (faultlessly sublime) Full Moon Fever album, though if I had to pick four tracks from it I’d probably go for Free Fallin’, I Won’t Back Down, Yer So Bad and Runnin’ Down a Dream too.
I also enjoyed Stevie Nicks’ set, which I suppose partly makes up for the fact that I’ve never got to see the Nicks/Buckingham Fleetwood Mac live. The lady is a class act.
I think they are a pretty average live act (seen them twice before), they are playing Ottawa on Sat, may go if weather forecast good and I can pick up a cheap ticket.
I presume you are referring to TP & THB dai. If in your opinion they `are a pretty average act`, I`d love to know who you regard as a good or even great act.
I seen TP & THB 4 times and IMHO they are sublime.
I didn`t go to Hyde Park, too far away and I`ve given up with enormodomes and fields.
Springsteen, Wilco, Stones, Van Morrison, Neil Young etc. Last Petty and HB show I saw (2012) they really just phoned it in. Also saw them backing Dylan in 87, was very excited but neither their set nor Dylan’s added up to much. Too many drugs I’m afraid. Willing to give them (him) one more chance.
They opened the Dylan Petty tour in Oz. I thought they were pretty good.
I went to the concert and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Arrived at 3:00 pm and left at the end ( about 10:30 ). That’s 7 and a half hours on a warm and humid day.
I love TP and have wanted to see him for years. However, I am approaching my mid 60’s and would not have entertained going without having a good ticket after travelling down from Manchester ( my knees would not have stood up to this for that length of time ).
So……..yes I was in the raised terrace area with access to Barclays garden area. There was lots of room, space to sit down and have a drink and eat your lunch and spotless loos.
The cost wasn’t £550, it was £275.
Still a lot of money I know. However, it was worth it to me and made the whole day a much more enjoyable experience.
Great review TrypF.
Only disappointment was Stevie not singing my favourite – Sara
Actually fair play to Hyde Park organisers because the loos we’re spotless in the pleb section too. And there were water fountains at different places throughout the park where you could refill your water bottles.
My first time back at Hyde Park since the Hard Rock Calling events. The move of the main stage South and the secondary stage North means it’s no longer possible to stage hop as when both stage were back to back in the centre. The tiered pricing/ticketing is quite a remove from when I first attended and you got a discounted ticket to attend two shows and I saw Roger Waters and The Who. All the food/drink outlets and toilets were in a circle round the stages and easier to access than only having loos in four corners of the park. Things move on but first time I attended I was able to get a deck chair and enjoy a brass band playing the hits of The Who in the bandstand before things got going.
We went for the Gold tickets(£130) to ensure my pal who is somewhat shorter than me would get a decent view. It was his birthday and he had never seen TP&H before so we reckoned it was worth the extra cost. On arrival we were upgraded to Platinum Circle in front of the stage which was much appreciated. We spent most of the day within 10 people of the stage front and it was easy to get to and from our spot. The Gold Circle next section back looked to be pretty crowded.
Annoying having to trek in one direction to use the loos and then the other to get draught beer. The nearest outlet to stage wanted £5.50 for a bottle of Fosters! £6 for a pint of Heineken seemed a better option.
I enjoyed James Hunter Six as usual. They did a good job in the difficult opening slot and won a few fans around us. Better enjoyed in club where they can really cut a rug though
I’d never heard of The Shelters before. Young energetic jangly pop from LA they played their socks off. I shall investigate further
I watched The Lumineers on Andrew Marr show earlier in the day and they failed to impress me. Relaxing in the sun I really enjoyed their set but I suspect it didn’t travel particularly well to the further reaches of the crowd. A sort of junior Arcade Fire feel to them
I was somewhat apprehensive about what Stevie Nicks might bring to the event. But she looked great for her 69 years and the voice is still there. Waddy Watchell on guitarslinger duties was a treat. Playing a Buckingham Nicks song for the first time live,Landslide, nice tribute to Prince on White Winged Dove and Rhiannon for an encore. I was delighted to have my doubts blown away.
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers in my view are one the last great bands standing along with Bruce & The E Street Band. The fourth time I’ve seen them and they delivered exactly what I love about them. Great harmonica disposal from Tom and outrageous string bending in the encore from Mike Campbell. The whole set was a joy to behold and could only be improved by being longer.
The sound throughout the day was superb and imaginative use of the screens to enhance the performance. And the sun shone! A grand day out