Despite the tragic news today that music icon Tom Petty is dangerously close to the end of his life after he was found unconscious and in full cardiac arrest, the 66-year-old rocker has shown no signs of slowing down in recent months. He produced a new solo album by The Byrds’ Chris Hillman, and he just finished a raucous and exciting 40th anniversary tour with The Heartbreakers barely even a week ago.
The final show of that 53-date tour went down at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on September 25th, and Petty closed out what will end up being his last ever concert the same way he did every other stop on the tour: With a performance of his classic 1977 single, “American Girl.” The fan-shot footage taken from near the stage, above, shows the entire encore of “You Wreck Me” and “American Girl.”
Thanks to everyone for supporting us for the last 40 years! Without YOU, there'd be no US! #TPHB40 https://t.co/MrJg4dVJJp
— Tom Petty (@tompetty) September 29, 2017
Before the tour kicked off, Petty told Rolling Stone that there was no way he wasn’t going to play the hits:
“If I was a fan and they didn’t play ‘American Girl’ or ‘Free Fallin” I’d be disappointed. But I want to continue with the vibe we had at the [2013] theater shows where we represented plenty of popular songs, but also give the longtime fans some really deep stuff, and we can change the show as much as we want from night to night.”
Watch Petty’s final performance above, and read our review of the Chicago stop of his final tour here.
