Previously unseen footage of Tom Petty’s legendary Fillmore residency released

Tom Petty‘s estate has launched some previously unseen footage shot during Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ 20-night residency at San Francisco’s iconic Fillmore venue in 1997. 

The Fillmore House Band – 1997 (Short Film 2) follows the October launch of an earlier reel, and includes previously unreleased live and backstage footage, accompanied by interviews with The Heartbreakers shot at The Clubhouse, the band’s rehearsal space in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. 

The film was put together by Alison Tavel, who also directed two videos for the expanded 2021 release of Petty’s Wildflowers, Drivin’ Down To Georgia and Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers. 

The film follows the November release of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Live at the Fillmore (1997), a multi-disc box set featuring highlights from the 20 sold-out shows at the Fillmore between January 10 and February 7, 1997. The band switched the setlist around each night and invited stars like The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn and blues giant John Lee Hooker onstage.

“The Heartbreakers don’t really rehearse much of what they play in concert,” Petty told BAM Magazine (opens in new tab) in 1997. “They play everything else in the world – maybe on the last night we run through it. So I just wanted to play in that kind of environment where it would be conducted pretty much like a rehearsal. The other reason really was it’s such a good group that I wanted people to really see it and hear it.”

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Live at the Fillmore (1997) is available in four physical formats, including 6LP and 4CD box sets featuring 58 tracks, plus 2CD or 3LP variants with 33 songs. The vinyl box coomes with a 24-page booklet, three guitar picks, replica laminates, an embroidered patch, facsimile setlists, and a fan newsletter.

Source: loudersound.com