![]() She explains of that moment in time, “He was going through a divorce, he was changing his life dramatically, he was changing his band dramatically, and I think he’d been through a lot giving birth to Wildflowers. “It was very spontaneous,” she says, “My dad was a taskmaster in terms of rehearsing the band and just really knowing how to get up and entertain people.” But at the Fillmore, he was more laid back, trying something different. “The whole atmosphere for fans was very inclusive.”Īdria described the unique experience that the shows brought, not only for fans but for her father. “Everybody was very excited to see the band in a small space and to be able to hang out with each other,” she explains to American Songwriter. Petty’s daughter, Adria, recalls a “sense of community” in the room. Tench described seeing familiar faces night after night, watching the front row become family. “It was beautiful,” Tench says, explaining the magic, “If we play whatever the heck we want and we play it well … just because it isn’t ‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’ or ‘Refugee’ or ‘Free Fallin’, doesn’t mean that they’re gonna run for the exits.” “If we were at a rehearsal, this is the stuff we would play for fun to avoid rehearsing.” The Fillmore shows were intimate, making the thousand-capacity room feel even more personal as the band gave fans a look at the Heartbreakers behind-the-scenes, out from behind the guise of rock stardom. “It was a chance to be who we were when we weren’t playing a gig,” Tench explains. They peppered in Heartbreakers’ songs here and there, but in performing more covers than originals and in paying tribute to the music that shaped their own, the band found their way forward by tracing their steps back to the sounds that sparked their first love. & the M.G.s, and saw special performances from an array of legends, including The Byrds’ frontman Roger McGuinn and blues icon John Lee Hooker. Cale, The Kinks, Bill Withers, Chuck Berry, Booker T. ![]() Their sets consisted of tunes from the likes of Bob Dylan, J.J. ![]() “The Heartbreakers could draw from a deep well of American music and British music and this was a chance to do that,” longtime Heartbreaker, Benmont Tench, told American Songwriter of the Fillmore residency. They were able to unplug and strip back in order to better serve the songs they played. Not one show during that stint was repeated, but each gig guaranteed the Heartbreakers were out of their element, exactly where they were supposed to be. ![]()
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