Customer Reviews

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Live at the Olympic: The Last DJ and More

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I've always thought that studio albums don't even compare with live performances. I've also always loved Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. But even I was astounded at how great "The Last DJ" sounds live. From the opening notes of the title track to Mike Campbell's solo on "Lost Children" to the final chords of "Can't Stop The Sun", Tom and the Heartbreakers sound incredible. It's almost like listening to a completely new album. And that's not all. The band goes on to play classics including "Change of Heart" and "I Need To Know", then closes with a ten-minute-long "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and a "You Wreck Me" encore.

Unfortunately, the editing is poor. In some songs the camera changes every three seconds. Some shots don't last for more than half a second. Occasionally the camera will slow down for a minute to watch Tom sing or to pan across the stage, but it doesn't happen often enough. One of the longest shots is of a woman in the audience singing along to two verses of a song. Who knows what's happening on stage. Also, the lighting on some camera shots leaves a lot to be desired. In other places, however, the colors and lighting effects are awesome. Overall, the quality of the music makes the camera problems seem minor.

The extra features are hardly worth mentioning: two TV commercials promoting "The Last DJ" album and some random outtakes of Tom making a video.

As of this time, Amazon hasn't included a track listing, so...
The Last DJ - Money Becomes King - Dreamville - Joe - When A Kid Goes Bad - Like A Diamond - Lost Children - Blue Sunday - You And Me - The Man Who Loves Women - Have Love Will Travel - Can't Stop The Sun - Change Of Heart - I Need To Know - Shake Rattle And Roll - Around And Around - Mary Jane's Last Dance - You Wreck Me

Amazon is also selling the DVD with a bonus CD, which features four songs from the band's appearance on PBS's Soundstage program:
I'm Crying - Done Somebody Wrong - I Got A Woman - Carol

If you own the Soundstage DVD, it's hardly worth the extra [money].

So, what more do you want? It's Tom Petty live. Buy it.

I am not sure who amazes me more, Tom Petty or every other member of this band. This concert shows why rock and roll will never die. Tom Petty, "old and bitter"? I think not. Fortunately for us, he seems to keep getting better. The sound makes this DVD - but how visual do you need to be at a Tom Petty and the HB's concert anyway!

A wonderful DVD with songs that link together a great concept story-line. Mr. Petty speaks his mind to the "Powers That Be" (Joe CEO) that are more interested in the flash in the pan artists that sell their smile (Making Joe CEO Rich) instead of quality music. The music and the lyrics are great. I found the production value to be superior. The additional CD of live music rocks as well. A great value, that I picked up for under fifteen dollars (new). Dreamville is the place to be.........

For the true Tom Petty fan, this is a must. I have not been able to see TP & the HP's in concert in years and this just made me smile. I get chills everytime I hear "Like a Diamond". Tom has stayed true to what he believes in and that has only made me even a more loyal fan. This also includes my two teenage daughters who also think you are The Man! Thanks Tom!

I had intended to write a review, then happened to read those already printed. There is a quality that runs through all these reviews, and that is a love of GREAT rock&roll, and the love of the
uniqueness that is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Their music had me with their first album. The videos just reinforce what I intuitively knew, He is a genius, enhanced by the Heartbreakers, all genius themselves. How they found each other, and how they have all ENHANCED EACH OTHER is a great story of ROCK&ROLL.

Tom, charismatic, driven, gifted beyond belief. His is a story of a boy who was driven by passion to push ahead and make great r&r. His belief in that dream fueled a life, many lives
to reach great heights, and then continue to reach for more.

LONG MAY THEY PROSPER, AND LONG MAY THEY CREATE AND PRODUCE THEIR INCREDIBLE MUSIC. I intend to keep on loving everything I can read, watch or listen to by Tom Petty.

This is Tom and the HB at their best! What a great, "broad" collection!

Great live DVD! At first I wondered if I'd enjoy seeing Tom Petty perform a whole album in concert--especially an album I didn't know well. Tom Petty has so many wonderful songs in his back catalog, I wondered if the show would hold up on the strength of strictly new (as of 2002) material. To my delight, the THE LAST DJ: LIVE AT THE OLYMPIC is fabulous. THE LAST DJ turns out to be Tom Petty's concept album--his SGT. PEPPER or his TOMMY. THE LAST DJ comments on the decline of the music industry and it begs to be told in sequence--and in full. Not knowing much of this music before seeing the DVD, I found that songs like "Money Becomes King," "Dreamville," "Like a Diamond," "Lost Children," "Blue Sunday" (a beautiful song), "Have Love Will Travel," and the Beatle-esque "Can't Stop the Sun" all stand up favorably to Tom Petty's best work.

And just to be safe, Petty returns for a fiery encore of early favorites including "Change of Heart," "I Need to Know," a scorching, nearly ten-minute version of "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and, finally, the irresistible "You Wreck Me."

One major detail that other other reviewers failed to mention is that the Heartbreakers are joined here by a full orchestra and the results are sensational. For critics (like my deluded brother) who insist that Tom Petty is nothing but a straight ahead rocker who's incapable of "serious" music, this disc should set the record straight. Tom Petty can do anything Elvis Costello or Joe Jackson can do; he's just not so full of himself.