Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Live at the Fillmore 1997.”

It’s 1997 and you’re inside The Fillmore theater in San Francisco. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are onstage—at the peak of their prowess. Petty tells the audience, “We’re live on the internet tonight; whatever that is.” You’re seeing one of Petty’s 20(!) sold out performances at the historic venue. You have no idea what awaits you in the 21st century.

And you have no idea how lucky you are.

Looking back, it’s all so wonderfully simple and pure. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Live at the Fillmore 1997 distills the greatest moments of the final six nights of the band’s 20-night stint into a 72-track collection available on CD and vinyl, featuring Petty’s hits like “Free Fallin'” and “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” deep cuts like “Honey Bee” from Wildflowers and “California” from the She’s the One, along with classic covers of everything from “Louie Louie” to the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.”

I’m a huge Petty fan and some of this is bound to sound hyperbolic. But, here goes: There are four songs at the end of Part One that I would set against any single side of any live album ever recorded. I’m talking The Band’s The Last Waltz, Hendrix Plays Monterey—all of ’em. It’s that good.

The vein of pure gold begins with a muted and haunting rendition of “Won’t Back Down.” The audience sings along as Petty delivers the song’s first movement against gentle guitar. I’m just going to quote the whole part because you may be unaware of how badly you need this:

“Well, I won’t back down/ No I won’t back down/ You could stand me up at the gates of Hell/ But I won’t back down/ No I’ll stand my ground/ Won’t be turned around/
And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down/ Gonna stand my ground/ And I won’t back down/ Hey baby/ There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)/ Hey I will stand my ground/ And I won’t back down.”

If you can make it through the velvety vocal harmonies during the song’s chorus without weeping, you might want to head over to Best Buy and have the Geek Squad check to see if you’re a robot. Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake recently used the song to bolster her bogus claims of election fraud. Petty’s estate put it best in its cease and desist letter to Lake, writing, “Using [Petty’s] music to promote yourself and your despicable cause is revolting and antithetical to everything that Tom and his music stand for and mean to millions of people.”

Amen.

Next, Petty introduces a song he “learned at camp,” Jimmie Davis’ and Charles Mitchell’s “You Are My Sunshine.” The classic song, fleshed out with harmonica, electric guitar, drums and harmony vocals delivers levels of good cheer and joie de vivre normally evoked exclusively by Muppets. At Petty’s behest, the crowd sings the chorus. The band and audience’s simple enjoyment of the music and the moment suggests a powerful way forward if we could just find this simple magic in being alive again. We don’t need to rush headlong into the future. I may have written those last couple of sentences for myself. Apply as needed.

Petty then flips the coin with a cover of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell’s guitar riff delivers Link Wray heaviness, a black asphalt road the song rambles over like an old Lincoln Town Car.

The evening ends with a nearly 12-minute long rendition of “It’s Good To Be King” from Wildflowers. The epic seven-minute jam at the end journeys from spacey blues to frenetic guitar solos to stabs of distorted guitar that ring out over the thunderous roar of the crowd.

The recordings, obviously taken from the soundboards and produced by Benmont Tench, Adria Petty, Annakim Petty and Dana Petty, sparkle with musical nuance and clarity. I know what I want for Christmas.

Follow writer David Gill at Twitter.com/saxum_paternus.