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This page is our attempt to document the touring history (and as many setlists as possible!) of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Much (although not all) of this is taken from the Gigography previously hosted on Mudcrutch Farm, the Tour History previously hosted on Gone Gator, and various Wayback Machine archives of TomPetty.com.

If you have a setlist not yet posted here (or notice any mistakes in our existing ones), please contact us .

Entertainment

Watch the Final Moments of Tom Petty’s Last Ever Live Show

T om Petty had some final words for his audience in Los Angeles, California as he closed out the last concert of a world tour. “I wanna thank you for 40 years of a really great time,” he said. One week later the rock legend would be dead, after suffering cardiac arrest in the early morning of Oct. 2. He was 66.

On Sept 25, Petty and his band the Heartbreakers finished a three-night stint at the Hollywood Bowl as part of their 40th anniversary tour. YouTube user Kim Roberts caught footage of the band’s encore, the hit songs ‘You Wreck Me’ and ‘American Girl’.

“My tears are falling down as i write this as the news of Tom’s death from cardiac arrest is reported,” she wrote in the video’s description. “Unbelievable that one week to the day of this performance at the Hollywood Bowl, last day of the 40th anniversary tour, Tom would have left us.”

The footage shows an appreciative crowd whooping as the band finish their performance and then stick around to sign autographs. “God bless you! Goodnight!” said Petty just before walking off the stage.

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Inside Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Last Big Tour

By Stephen Rodrick

Stephen Rodrick

It’s about an hour before Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers play Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre for what may be the last time. Backstage, Petty is in his dressing room putting on a frontier rebel’s headdress to fight the chill. Keyboardist Benmont Tench is tweeting about the sad state of our country under Donald Trump. Bassist Ron Blair has battled stage fright for years since rejoining the Heartbreakers in 2002, after a 20-year sanity break. 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. “I’m kinda nervous, you know,” says Blair in a quiet voice.

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.”

And then there’s a flash of lightning. Rain pours down. The Heartbreakers are shooed into the catacombs of Red Rocks, and 9,000 fans head for cover.

There’s been a valedictory feel to the Heartbreakers’ 40th-anniversary tour, which Petty says is the band’s final country-spanning run – the “last big one.” Everyone else is a bit skeptical. “I’ve been hearing that for 15 years,” says guitarist and original Heartbreaker Mike Campbell. “We’ll see.”

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The band now travels like pashas: playing shows in weeklong bursts, flying privately to the gig and then returning every night to a hub city like Denver. Backstage is no longer the den of iniquity it used to be, no longer full of starlets, hangers-on and good drugs. Petty says sleep is now his friend. “I need a new Netflix show, does anyone have any suggestions?” he asks just before his assistant ducks out of the room. Someone suggests Bloodline, a noirish series set in his native Florida.

Petty is defiant about the hyper pace of the tour, which hits 30 cities this spring and summer. “Unless you’ve done it, you can’t understand what it is,” says Petty, brushing his scarecrow hair out of his face. “And if you’re not really experienced, you will fall.”

He soon met Benjamin Montmorency Tench III, a prep-school kid and piano prodigy. Tench wears suits and went to Exeter, but he’s the fiery one. In a Peter Bogdanovich documentary on the Heartbreakers, 2007’s Runnin’ Down a Dream, Tench can be heard screaming at his bandmates to take things seriously. His nickname is Mad Dog. When Tench used to go on one of his tirades, a roadie would slide a dog bowl of water under his piano.

Petty, Campbell and  Tench formed the nucleus of Mudcrutch , which morphed into the  Heartbreakers in 1976,  after adding San Diegan Blair on bass and  Stan Lynch on drums.  Blair fried out and  bailed in 1982. He opened a bikini shop in the Valley and was replaced by Howie Epstein, but the band loomed in his subconscious. “I’d dream I’d be walking to the stage, and be like, ‘I don’t know “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,”‘ ” remembers Blair. “I had half a dozen of those nightmares, so I started learning those songs so I could get a night’s sleep.”

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You can argue that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are the most successful and longest-running American rock band in history, the Beach Boys be damned. Tench, Campbell and Petty attribute the group’s longevity to two epochal moments: one logistical and one creative.

“About 20 years ago, we stopped doing soundchecks,” says Petty. “It eats up the whole day and we’d argue, and then you’d come back and the sound would be completely different with a crowd.”

As the bandmates wait out the rain , Petty asks if they want to add their 1999 song “Swingin'” to the second half of the set. Everyone agrees: They do. The Heartbreakers aren’t a democracy, but more of a benevolent dictatorship. This is true when it comes to the set list. “We can make suggestions,” says Tench with a wry smile. “Sometimes they’re even accepted.”

After 20 minutes, the Heartbreakers retake the stage. They play “Swingin’,” which has a chorus where Petty lists icons who “went down swinging,” including Sonny Liston and Sammy Davis. Tench, who sings with Petty on the song, switches it up. Epstein provided the beautiful high harmonies on the record, so Tench sneaks in a tribute to his departed friend: “He went down swingin’/Just like Howie Epstein.” When I mention Epstein to Campbell later, he starts to cry.

Petty is supposed to do some acoustic numbers from Wildflowers, his 1994 solo album. There’s just one problem: His guitar is dead, soaked by the rain. There’s confusion and uncertainty on the bandmates’ faces for a moment, like it’s a 1975 show at a honky-tonk in Gainesville. Then Petty and Campbell shout across the stage, “Ben, play something!”

Tench, the best keyboardist in American rock, breaks into a pastiche of boogie-woogie, a homage to pianist Pete Johnson. The group chimes in, not quite in sync, until Petty switches to Chuck Berry’s “Carol.” The Heartbreakers fall in line, sounding like the best bar band you don’t want to tell your friends about because it’ll get too big and leave your favorite saloon.

“It’s still a wild pace. I might be away for two years, but I’ve worked myself to death on different projects.”

They encore with “American Girl.” The bandmates take a bow, wiping sweat and rain off their faces. Everyone exits, but Petty seems reluctant to leave. He takes a few steps toward the front of the stage and gives a last wave.

One word Petty and the band never mention: retirement. Petty still goes into his Malibu home office to write songs – right across from his home studio. He’s mostly a homebody, rarely even venturing the 45 minutes into Los Angeles unless it’s to see his two daughters and his young granddaughter. There was a Mudcrutch tour last year and a turn producing a record for former Byrds bassist Chris Hillman. The Heartbreakers will record again and play live in some capacity. “It’s still a wild pace,” says Petty. “I might be away for two years, but I’ve worked myself to death on different projects, you know?”

Petty often thinks about songs that should have been left out on the street, like the closing track on Full Moon Fever . “I hate ‘Zombie Zoo,’ ” he says with a shake of his head. “I do not understand how that got on the record. I had better stuff. What frame of mind produced that? That was nearly a perfect album.”

But that’s on the dark side of town. Petty also mentions the stories of fans telling him how they walked down the aisle to “Here Comes My Girl” or got strength from “I Won’t Back Down.” He remembers a recent encounter in L.A. with a young fan. She mentioned that she got solace from the band’s 1999 album, Echo . She knew that it was one of Petty’s stepchildren – an opportunity Petty feels he squandered while he was out of his head from his divorce, and Epstein was slipping away into heroin abuse. Petty signed the woman’s copy of the record, then thought about the encounter when he got back home to Malibu.

“Well, see?” says Petty with a shrug of wonder. “Things can work even when you don’t realize it.” He pauses for a moment. “You know?”

Campbell and Tench use words like “miracle” and “magic” to explain how the Heartbreakers still crank out a show every bit as good as they did in 1985. Campbell describes moments when the band is working in sync, and he feels almost like he’s watching from above.

“I’ll be looking at this going, ‘Wow. How did I get here? How lucky am I?'” says Campbell with wonderment.

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Revisiting Tom Petty’s Final Concert

On Sept. 25, Tom Petty took the stage at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles to bring to a close the legendary songwriter's 40th anniversary tour. One week later, he died peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by loved ones.

Back in December, Petty had told Rolling Stone that the tour could be his "last big one." "We're all on the backside of our sixties," he said. "I have a granddaughter now I'd like to see as much as I can. I don't want to spend my life on the road. This tour will take me away for four months. With a little kid, that's a lot of time."

The concert that capped off the tour was the third in the trio of sold-out dates at the Hollywood Bowl, which holds 17,500 people. Petty's set list for his final performance was stacked with a career-spanning trove of some of his best-loved songs, including his first entry into the Top 40, 1977's "Breakdown," 1994's Grammy-winning "You Don't Know It Feels," concert favorite " Free Fallin' " and more. The performance served, in retrospect, as a defining encapsulation of the trailblazer's unrivaled contributions to rock music and its lasting impact that crossed generations and genres.

Petty was accompanied onstage by three original members of the Heartbreakers: guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, and bassist Ron Blair.

You can watch footage from the performance below (as well as one song above), including the last two songs he ever played, and see the set list for Petty's final concert after that.

Tom Petty, 9/25/17, Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California "Rockin' Around (With You)" "Mary Jane's Last Dance" "You Don't Know How It Feels" "Forgotten Man" "I Won't Back Down" "Free Fallin'" "Breakdown" "Don't Come Around Here No More" "It's Good to Be King" "Crawling Back to You" "Wildflowers" "Learning to Fly" "Yer So Bad" "I Should Have Known It" "Refugee" "Runnin' Down a Dream "You Wreck Me" "American Girl"

Tom Petty Through the Years: 1976-2017 Photos

Setlist History: Tom Petty's Final Concert

Setlist History
Last updated: 25 Sep 2023, 16:17:05
Published: 25 Sep 2023, 16:17:05
Written by: Tony Pierce
Photography by: Andrew Chin/Getty Images for ABA
Categories: Setlist History Tagged: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Hollywood Bowl

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed their final show together on September 25, 2017 at the Hollywood Bowl.

The sparkling gig was their third sold-out night in the row at the historic venue in the Hollywood Hills, and the last of 53 for their 40th Anniversary Tour.

The Grammy-award winning singer/songwriter would die just a week later at 66 years-old from an accidental overdose of drugs, including Fentanyl, which he was using to treat a hip injury.

"Unfortunately Tom’s body suffered from many serious ailments including emphysema, knee problems and most significantly a fractured hip. Despite this painful injury he insisted on keeping his commitment to his fans and he toured for 53 dates with a fractured hip and, as he did, it worsened to a more serious injury," they wrote.

"On the day he died he was informed his hip had graduated to a full on break and it is our feeling that the pain was simply unbearable and was the cause for his over use of medication," the statement continued.

"We knew before the report was shared with us that he was prescribed various pain medications for a multitude of issues including Fentanyl patches and we feel confident that this was, as the coroner found, an unfortunate accident."

Watching clips from the final show at the Bowl, it's hard to see Petty struggling. He seems happy, comfortable, and grateful to his fans and everyone who had supported both he and his long-time band.

In many ways he exemplified the old adage, "the show must go on."

But also, perhaps, he knew it would probably be his last huge tour, so he was giving it all he had. Before it set sail he told Rolling Stone he wanted to spend more time with his family and was feeling his age.

“I’m thinking it may be the last trip around the country,” he told the magazine in December of 2016 .

“It’s very likely we’ll keep playing, but will we take on 50 shows in one tour? I don’t think so. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was thinking this might be the last big one. We’re all on the backside of our sixties. I have a granddaughter now I’d like to see as much as I can. I don’t want to spend my life on the road. This tour will take me away for four months. With a little kid, that’s a lot of time,” he explained.

The final tour's set was practically the same for all 53 shows: usually about 18 songs.

15 tracks were played at all 53 gigs; classics like "Refugee," "Learning to Fly," and "Free Fallin'." "Walls" "Crawling Back To You," and "You Wreck Me" got in mix over 40 times. "You Got Lucky" was played 35 times. But the other 10 tunes not in the regular set were played less than 10 times. "Breakdown," for example was only dusted off three times on tour, including in the finale.

"The Waiting," the favorite of yours truly, wasn't played at all on that last lap. Strangely he played it just once after 2008.

The last tune Tom played in front of an audience, the last encore of that night at the Hollywood Bowl was "American Girl," a song he wrote when he lived in Encino near the Hollywood freeway.

In the Going Home (1993) documentary, Petty said the rhythm was inspired by the "Bo Diddley" beat and the guitars sounded so much like The Byrds that Roger McGuinn said he thought it was an outtake from a Byrds session he had forgotten about.

Tom Petty will never be forgotten. His songs will forever be woven in the American songbook of rock 'n roll.

Mike Campbell, Petty's guitarist and songwriting collaborator has his own band now called The Dirty Knobs. They have just begun to tour. Tickets available on The Dirty Knobs' website .

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Most played songs.

American Girl ( 828 )
Refugee ( 772 )
I Won't Back Down ( 649 )
Runnin' Down a Dream ( 649 )
Free Fallin' ( 619 )

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10,462 people have seen Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers live.

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Tour Dates and Setlists - The Petty Archives
Tour Dates and Setlists. This page is our attempt to document the touring history (and as many setlists as possible!) of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. If you have a setlist not yet posted here (or notice any mistakes in our existing ones), please contact us.
Tom Petty Closes his Last Ever Concert with 'American Girl ...
On Sept 25, Petty and his band the Heartbreakers finished a three-night stint at the Hollywood Bowl as part of their 40th anniversary tour.
Inside Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Last Big Tour
There’s been a valedictory feel to the Heartbreakers’ 40th-anniversary tour, which Petty says is the band’s final country-spanning run – the “last big one.” Everyone else is a bit ...
Revisiting Tom Petty’s Final Concert - Ultimate Classic Rock
On Sept. 25, Tom Petty took the stage at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles to bring to a close the legendary songwriter's 40th anniversary tour. One week later, he died peacefully in his...
The Final Song Tom Petty Performed In Concert - JamBase
When Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers concluded a 53-show tour in honor of their 40th anniversary with a performance on September 25, 2017, the show at the Hollywood Bowl ended being the...
Setlist History: Tom Petty's Final Concert
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed their final show together on September 25, 2017 at the Hollywood Bowl. The sparkling gig was their third sold-out night in the row at the historic venue in the Hollywood Hills, and the last of 53 for their 40th Anniversary Tour.