Tom Petty's Perfect Song

American Girl is a perfect song, musically and lyrically.  As always, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers closed last night's show at the Garden with it.  From the guitar intro into the first line "She was an American Girl/Raised on promises", the song grabs you.  The chorus just invites the listener to sing along.  Petty closes his shows with the rockers.  The first song of the encore was Runnin' Down a Dream. 

The show opened with Listen to Her Heart and flowed into You Don't Know How It Feels.  Tom is a man of few words. To quote a cliche, he lets the music speak for itself.   He thanked the audience profusely throughout the show.  He referred to the Garden as the Temple of Rock and Roll.  The band gave a first rate performance for the next two hours, which would make them the high priests of the temple.

They are truly a unit.  Understated, each musician contributed to the performance.  Mike Campbell has always been a glue in the band.  Petty introduced him as the co-captain.  As a guitarist, he's probably one of the most underrated.  He could go up against anyone.  Benmont Tench's keyboards really struck me.  They were evident and added a perfect layer(s) to the sound.  Scott Thurston went from keyboards to guitar to harmonica and vocals.  Ron Blair and Steve Ferrone were the steady backbone.  They all raise the bar for Petty. 

The band performed a few songs from the new album Mojo grouped in the middle of the show. It lead off with the jaunty Jefferson Jericho Blues.  Good Enough is a down and dirty, dark guitar blast of music.  I loved it.  What stood out on the new songs was Mike Campbell's guitar work.  It was smooth, bleak, melodic and blue. 

The hits just kept on coming in this show: Learning to Fly,  Refugee,  Mary Jane's Last Dance, Free Fallin', I Won't Back Down..... Don't Come Around Here No More was the highlight for me.  Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers never disappoint. The set was solid rock and roll. It's good to be Tom Petty.

Carole King Ticket Prices Are So Far Away From Reasonable

I was looking forward to seeing Carole King. She's touring with James Taylor, which is an event. They are playing Madison Square Garden June 15th. Tickets go on sale at 11am this morning through Carole King's website.

I've been priced out of the show.

Here is a breakdown of the ticketing fees:

Base Price: $150.00 USD
Facility Fee: $4.50 USD
CaroleKing.com Service Charge: $15.00 USD
Transaction Fee: $4.00 USD
Our Price: $173.50 USD

Paying $173.50 ($23.50 of that in additional fees) for a show at the not-very intimate Garden in this economy is cost prohibitive.

The Garden is charging $4.50 a person/ticket. Capacity for a concert is 20,000, which means they are grossing $90,000 at sell out. They have to be taking a piece of the merchandise, concessions, etc. Do they also get a % of ticket fees? Does not seem like a great deal for the Garden.

Why is there a service charge and a transaction fee?
At sellout, CaroleKing.com will receive $300,000 in processing fees. Seems extreme for what is needed to execute the ticket sales. Tickets have to be picked up at the venue day of show. They are not physically sending tickets to buyers.

Not sure who gets the $4 ($80,000) transaction fee.

Once again, it seems like shows like this are a reality only for hedge fund managers. Too bad. I'm a huge fan of Carole's work. I've never seen her live and would love to, but it won't be on this tour.

I'm off my soapbox.

Dane Cook

I knew nothing about Dane Cook, except that he was a comedian, until I heard him on Howard Stern this morning. Musicians trying to make a name for themselves could take a page from his book. When his career was stalled at age 27, he decided to post video of himself whether it be from a club gig or a unfinished joke on his website and MySpace page. He said he originally had 9 followers and he knew their names. He kept adding to that 9 and at the height of MySpace, he had 2.5 million followers. He's hosting a show at Madison Square Garden tonight and he's made several movies. If you keep at your craft and you're dedicated and consistent, it will happen.

He also talked about his half-brother who is in jail for allegedly stealing what Dane estimates to be $11 million from him while his brother served as his manager. The brother is awaiting trial. Dane's career continues to pick up steam.

Keith Urban-Madison Square Garden

Keith Urban plays to the crowd, while in the crowd. Heard hints of Prince, Cheap Trick and The Who in the show last night. All phenomenal performers. Keith holds his own in their company.

He shakes up his arrangements, plays an incredible guitar, is very appreciative of his audience and his crew and looks like he's having the time of his life.

He closed the show by leaving his uber tight band to play while the camera followed his exit through the bowels of The Garden to 33rd St. He proceed to hail a cab, wave good night, shut the door and head west. The crew credits rolled. A surprise ending to a perfect night of music.

The Police and New York Public Television

Both WNET and WLIW, New York public television stations will be the beneficiary of proceeds from the final Police date August 7th at Madison Square Garden. The only way to get tickets is through a pledge to the stations. Tickets will be available beginning Saturday, June 14 at 7:30pm. There will be a broadcast of a Police special at that time on both channels. Pledges start at $150 for a pair and go as high as $750 a pair. There are also higher priced VIP tickets. As expected, the higher the donation, the better the seats. There will be an additional Ticketmaster and facility charge. It did note this: *Ticketmaster is donating their event service charges to New York Public Television. This is a very creative way to help public television, whose funding seems to dwindle each year. I applaud the Police's commitment. The B52's will be opening the show. It's 1979 all over again.