The tour that Tom Petty was terrified to play: “I developed stage fright”
Tom Petty seemed to have nerves made of steel throughout every era of his career. It takes a lot of courage to be able to stand for what you believe in, but the number of times that he went to war over his label, fought against raising ticket prices, and even got into scuffles with fellow musicians was enough for him to edge himself closer to punk rock through attitude alone. That’s not to say that he couldn’t break, and Petty did have a few hangups going on the road to promote Full Moon Fever.
Before he had even decided to tour behind his latest record, though, making a solo album was starting to become a touchy subject among The Heartbreakers. Petty already had firm control over everything that they did, so bringing in Jeff Lynne to produce and make an entire record together with Mike Campbell must have felt like an artistic slap in the face.
The group may have been hung out to dry, but Petty was having a ball. He already had the opportunity to work among his heroes in The Traveling Wilburys, so getting to do the same thing with Lynne serving as the McCartney to his Lennon was bound to be a fireworks show from the moment that they started collaborating.
And it’s not like the results didn’t speak for themselves. ‘Free Fallin’’ and ‘I Won’t Back Down’ are still considered the best songs that he would ever write, but getting slapped with a rejection from the label probably didn’t help matters. While Petty just decided to wait it out and submit the entire record again, he was a lot more sceptical about whether or not the tour was going to go off without a hitch.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Petty remembered feeling a little bit apprehensive going out on the road, saying, “For the first time in my career, I developed stage fright. All of a sudden, I went through a period of being terrified, puking, the whole thing.” Given the fact that half of the Heartbreakers were slowly becoming a backing band, there was also a lot riding on the tour going well.
If anything went wrong or the audience didn’t respond, this would have turned Full Moon Fever into a complete vanity project, and Petty would have to go back to the Heartbreakers with his tail between his legs. While kicking off the record with a ballad was bound to be risky, Petty didn’t have any reason to worry, with ‘Free Fallin’’ becoming the biggest hit of his career and even deep cuts like ‘A Face in the Crowd’ getting some airtime on the charts as well.
Looking back on how Full Moon Fever was constructed, it’s easy to see what everyone saw in it before it had even come out. Regardless of the amount of overdubbing, the record never stops feeling like a passion project throughout its runtime, as if you can hear Petty, Campbell, and Lynne peddling away until they’ve got a track absolutely perfect. The Heartbreakers’ presence is definitely missing, but it’s hard to really dock points for when the record has this much heart.
