October 20, 1979. Tom Petty celebrates his 29th birthday on the same day as his breakthrough album with The Heartbreakers, Damn The Torpedoes, is released.
And here I was, ready to throw down a few paragraphs on how important Petty’s third album is and how chock-full of hits it is (“Refugee,” “Here Comes My Girl,” “Even The Losers,” “Don’t Do Me Like That“). Then I came across this: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, live at the Paradise, July 16, 1978.
For all the talk about how groundbreaking Damn The Torpedoes was, it’s not like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers weren’t well on their way a year earlier. That setlist is hot fire, so press play and celebrate 1979 like it’s 1978.