TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS : PACK UP THE PLANTATION - LIVE !

  1. So You Want To Be A Rock & Roll Star
  2. Needles And Pins (with Stevie Nicks)
  3. The Waiting
  4. Breakdown
  5. American Girl
  6. It Ain't Nothin' To Me
  7. Insider (with Stevie Nicks)
  8. Rockin' Around (With You)
  9. Refugee
  10. Southern Accents
  11. Rebels
  12. Don't Bring Me Down
  13. Shout
  14. Stories We Could Tell

Label : MCA Records

Venues : The Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles, California, USA + Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK + Irvine Meadows Ampitheater, Irvine, California, USA + Richfield Coliseum, Richfield, Ohio, USA + The Forum, Los Angeles, California, USA + The Paradise Club, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Recording Date : July 16, 1978 – August 7, 1985

Length : 72:11

Release Date : November 25, 1985

Review (AllMusic) : Considering that Southern Accents took so much time and money to complete, finally hitting the stores two and a half years after Long After Dark, it wasn't surprising that Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers decided to release a double live album, Pack Up the Plantation: Live!, a mere eight months after its release. After all, Southern Accents was criticized from many corners for being too slick, too much in Dave Stewart's corner instead of the Heartbreakers', so it made sense to quickly return the focus to the band, showcasing the group as the rockers they are. Pack Up the Plantation does do that, even if it isn't quite the barnburner it should have been. Part of the problem is that the song selection isn't quite as good as it could have been, relying heavily on Southern Accents material, including the weak "It Ain't Nothin' to Me." Then again, the weaker songs and dubious choices are outweighed by a strong performance and neat surprises like a tough "Insider" and covers of "So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star," "Needles and Pins," and "Don't Bring Me Down." That alone makes it worth investigating for dedicated fans, even if it doesn't quite deliver the knockout punch many listeners might have wanted.

Review (Wikipedia) : Pack Up the Plantation: Live! is the first official live album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released in November 1985. It was primarily recorded at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles during their 1985 tour but also includes several tracks from previous tours. It was released as a double LP or single cassette and compact disc. A concert film of the Wiltern Theatre performance, also titled Pack Up the Plantation: Live! was released on home video in 1986. It included songs that did not make the album, such as originals "Don't Do Me Like That" and "Don't Come Around Here No More", as well as covers such as "Little Bit O' Soul" and "Route 66". Stevie Nicks, who has collaborated with Petty and has appeared with him on tour frequently, sings with Petty on two songs on the album. The first is a cover of the Searchers' 1964 hit "Needles and Pins," which was released as a single and climbed into the Billboard top 40. Nicks' second track is "Insider," one of two cuts from Petty's 1981 LP Hard Promises that feature her. No other singles were released from the album in the United States, although a cover of the Byrds' 1967 hit "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" was released in Europe. "Refugee" was also issued in Europe on a four-track EP. Another fan favorite, "Breakdown," appears at the end of side one. It is notable because the audience takes over from Petty at the start, singing the first two verses and the chorus loud enough to be picked up by the mics. He quipped, "You're going to put me out of a job" to huge applause, and then launches into a reprise of the second verse. The recording garnered somewhat mixed reviews, with Sandy Robertson, writing for Sounds, describing it as "a turgid four-sided video soundtrack". Jimmy Guterman, writing for Rolling Stone, said that Petty "sounds impassioned and impressive when he lays into his early songs" and that the Heartbreakers are "an undeniably great band." The cover songs "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" and "Don't Bring Me Down" would later appear on Playback; "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" also shows up on Anthology: Through the Years. The two songs appearing only on vinyl or cassette have never been officially released on CD. Both songs were also initially not included in the 2015 Hi-Rez remaster, despite being a digital download without time limits, but after fan response, they were belatedly added to the release.