Mudcrutch @ Troubador

As if to prove that I'm as insane a person as many think I am, I left Coachellaland to come back to LA for one night. But I had an excuse: Mudcrutch, Tom Petty's original band (1972-1975) was playing at the Troubadour. And I had a ticket.

Let me start by saying that nothing gets old about seeing a rock hall of famer in a tiny club, and even moreso, watching a couple of men who "had successful careers teaching" (according to Petty) blast their way through bar rock in a band containing three hall of famers (two of the Heartbreakers are also in Mudcrutch.) To me, the most fascinating part of the show was imagining the phone call in which Petty informed his former guitarist that Mudcrutch was re-forming. I imagine it went something like this:

Petty: Hey, man!

Guitar guy: Hey, good to hear from you. I just got done mowing my lawn.

Petty: You do that? Anyways, I'm putting the band back together.

Guitar guy: *sighs*, *thinks: fucking Tom is going to make another bazillion dollars on tour* "hey, great. when are you coming to town? Can I get backstage, or are you going to make me wait in line with the autograph hunters again just to say hi?"

Petty: "No, man, Mudcrutch! Let's play together again"

Guitar guy: *faints*

Anyways, on stage it all worked quite well: Petty played bass and was less animated than usual, Guitar Guy wore a smile the whole time, Drum Guy is bald and loving it (and wheezed his way through each fill, which was mostly charming). The music: eh. But the record's probably great (lots of Graham Parsons-ish country rock, not a bad thing) . I was just exhausted. And there's more to come.

That said, "Crystal River," with it's 15-minute-or-so-jam, was sick. In an "I miss Phish, kinda" kind of way