Oh my my, oh hell yes!

I leave in an hour for the Tom Petty concert at Madison Square Garden.

Also on the bill -- Trey Anastasio (of Phish fame) and Stevie Nicks (of Fleetwood Mac and solo fame). Notice how I didn't say that Trey is famous for his solo work, because, well, it's just OK.

I've seen Phish a bunch of times (15 or 20 I'd say), and Trey with various incarnations of a band probably another 10. I really liked him with Oysterhead (his band with Les Claypool and Stewart Copeland, which, incidentally, reunited this past weekend at Bonnaroo). He was also pretty good with the first version of the Trey Anastasio Band who I saw back in either 2001 or 2002 (the memory is, ahem, hazy). The last time I saw him at Hammerstein Ballroom last May was underwhelming. I'm not too excited to see him tonight, especially not in an opening slot. The sad truth is that Trey is not Phish.

But oh Tom Petty! The excitement! I recently heard him described as "the guy whose songs you know all the lyrics to but you don't know you know them until you hear the song". Or something like that.

He put out a fantastic live album -- Pack Up The Plantation -- back in 1986, which had Stevie Nicks performing on a bunch of songs (including a fantastic ballad "Insider"). I've read that they are dueting on Nicks' "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" this tour which I am excited to see.

I've seen Petty a few times before. There are just so many songs that are real anthems -- "Free Falling", "Last Dance With Mary Jane", "You Don't Know How It Feels" and "Breakdown" to name just a tiny sample -- that play so well in an arena setting. He's one of the few artists that has put out multiple albums where I can listen to the entire thing straight through without skipping songs, and yes, know every word to every song. Albums like "Full Moon Fever", "Into The Great Wide Open", "Wildflowers" are just classics from beginning to end.

So yes, I'm excited.

Oh, and Guster's new album came out today. Good times...