Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
United Center
Chicago, Illinois
July 2, 2008

Source: Audio Technica AT-899 omnis => Edirol R-09
Transfer: R-09 => WAV => Magix Audio Cleaning Lab => WAV => FLAC (level 8)

Location: Beside stage, Left side, 8th row

Track listing:

Disc one (58:17):
(1) Band entrance (1:09)
(2) You Wreck Me (5:13)
(3) Listen To Her Heart (4:15)
(4) I Won't Back Down (4:18)
(5) Even The Losers (4:21)
(6) Free Fallin' (5:26)
(7) Mary Jane's Last Dance (6:43)
(8) Introduction (1:42)
(9) Sweet William (6:07)
(10) The End of the Line (3:39)
(11) Band introductions (3:48)
(12) Can't Find My Way Home (5:57) *
(13) Gimme Some Lovin' (6:34) *

* w/Steve Winwood

Disc two (71:32):
(1) Saving Grace (8:49)
(2) Honey Bee (6:51)
(3) A Face in the Crowd (7:17)
(4) You Don't Know How It Feels (7:57)
(5) Learning To Fly (4:36)
(6) Don't Come Around Here No More (6:34)
(7) Refugee (4:56)
(8) Encore break (5:22)
(9) Runnin' Down a Dream (5:13)
(10) Gloria (8:30)
(11) American Girl (5:22)

Checksum file is included.

Comments:

Great TP&HB show from their summer tour with Steve Winwood. Typical setlist for this point of the tour, but the nearly sold-out United Center was filled with raucous fans who pushed the band to raise their game. Highlight of the set, by far, was the two-song "cross-over" segment with Steve Winwood; predictably, this got the best reaction of the night and both Winwood and the Heartbreakers appeared to really enjoy it. To my ears, Petty hinted that this could be something of a farewell ("We've been coming here since 1977 ... I want to thank you for coming out one more time ..."); if so, it was a worthy swan song for the Chicago fans.

The recording itself is better than I expected it would be; I was a little too far to the left (about 20 feet behind the front of the stage, as opposed to the ideal of being just in front of the stage lip). For those who have heard my REM recording, I was about 30 feet from that sweet spot. That said, I was in decent position to the overhead speaker and the balance is pretty good (though the vocals are a little lower in the mix than I would like). My recording sounds a lot better than what my ears heard, which is why it took almost three weeks to get around to converting it. There are enthusiastic fans around me, and some talkers; the interference probably isn't enough to distract too much from your enjoyment, but you'll hear it.

Overall quality is probably on par with my Milwaukee recording, for those who have heard it -- maybe a little weaker given the audience interference that I was lucky to avoid in Milwaukee. I'd give it a B+; definitely worth having for TP fans and/or those who were in attendance that night, but not good enough if you only want to get a couple of the best shows from the tour.

(Unfortunately, I didn't arrive in time for the start of Winwood's set, so I didn't bother to record any of it.)

Mp3 samples are attached.