On This Day 17/06/1977 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

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On this day, 17 June 1977, American rock legend Tom Petty and his band The Heartbreakers played Cardiff University with support from the little-known punk band, The Boomtown Rats.

It was a quick returm for Petty having supported Nils Lofgren at the Capitol Theatre the month before.

Comment left on a Rats website described the evening -

Anonymous said...

I live in Cardiff - and saw the Cardiff gig at the students union - actually it was the UWIST building which formed part of the university. Good as the rats were, I can catagorically assure you that they did "ANYTHING BUT" blow Petty off stage. In fact, there were a number of duff notes played and for some reason that night, Geldoff couldn't hold a tune in a bucket.... sorry, but thats the truth....

EmJay said...

I was there too. Anon is right. If you watch the Tom Petty doc they say Cardiff was the gig where they first realised they were going to make it. I was part of the Ents crowd and went and saw Petty support Nils Lofgren at the Capitol a month before (didn't stay for Nils). I pushed the legendary Dave Scott who ran Ents to book Petty as a main band - he got them to play the Great Hall of the Union (it was joint UC and Uwist union) for a crate of beer and a couple of hundred quid cos no-one had heard of them and they hadn't headlined before. Petty played Top of the Pops on the Thursday night for the first time and sold out Cardiff on the Friday. We'd never heard of the Rats and they were arrogant, obnoxious and rough but full of energy and fired up crowd for amazing Petty gig. After helping hump out Petty and the Rats kit, the next morning I stuck out my thumb and still singing "American Girl" hitched down to the last Stonehenge Free Festival...

On This Day 08/05/1977 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

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On this day, 8 May 1977 American rocker Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre, supporting Nils Lofgren on the opening night of his UK tour.

The band returned to Cardiff a month later headlining at Cardiff University on the 17 June, where they were supported by the Boomtown Rats.

Petty was born October 20, 1950, in Gainesville, Florida, His interest in rock and roll music began at age ten when he met Elvis Presley.

In the summer of 1961, his uncle was working on the set of Presley's film Follow That Dream, in nearby Ocala, and invited Petty to watch the shoot.

He instantly became a Presley fan, and when he returned that Saturday, he was greeted by his friend Keith Harben, and soon traded his Wham-O slingshot for a collection of Elvis 45s. Of that meeting with Presley, Petty said, "Elvis glowed."

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

• Tom Petty (guitar & vocals)

• Mike Campbell (guitar)

• Benmont Tench (keyboards)

• Ron Blair (bass)

• Stan Lynch (drums)