DISC ONE: Jammin’ Me, Runnin’ Down A Dream, Breakdown, Swingin’, Don’t Do Me Like That, Mary Jane’s Last Dance, I Won’t Back Down, Listen To Her Heart, Penetration, Don’t Come Around Here No More

DISC TWO: Walls, Room At The Top, You Got Lucky, Free Girl Now, You Wreck Me, Free Fallin’, Gloria, American Girl

Livewire continues to unearth topnotch broadcasts, this one in fact being their second Petty release nabbed from the airwaves. (Radio Show, from Chicago 4/19/03, came out a few months ago.) In terms of sound, this is near-pristine; must say, I love a well-recorded broadcast even more than a soundboard or an ALD show. And here, the musical balance and dynamic spectrum are both outstanding. I’d be curious to know if there was an actual syndicated radio disc of this show that Livewire was able to tap, given how clean it is, as opposed to it being recorded from the radio.

    Performance-wise, it’s also an ace set. No real surprises in terms of what Petty was playing at this point in time on the Echoes tour, so if you have other good-sounding boots from this period, it’s probably not that essential a purchase. However, some of the highs on it will take your breath away: the cello accompaniment on “Walls”; Petty’s sassy vocal snap in “You Wreck Me”; the overall band swagger in Echoes’ “Swingin’”; the silly-but-cool crowd pleasing mugging during “Gloria”; the 8-minute version of “Don’t Come Around Here No More” (always one of my favorite songs, this has a kind of Prog-jazz jam intro now that edges into the more familiar psychedelic motifs, and the cello is clearly heard here too). Hell, I can even forgive him for keeping “Free Fallin’” in the setlist; while the song got pretty moldy over the years (and was never a great Petty composition in the first place), in the context of what was obviously an inspired concert, it sounds just fine. Always a fan of yours, Tom, my boy.

    The art, per Livewire tradition to date, isn’t anything special but it is tastefully designed. Full color 2-panel booklet, full color tray panel, with very nice photos of TP. Printing on thick/glossy stock. -- OSWALD