April 1, 2022

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Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist and former Heartbreaker, Mike Campbell brought his new band, The Dirty Knobs to the Hi-Fi club in Indianapolis on Wednesday evening for a great night of rock and roll.

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The band is out supporting their latest album, External Combustion which includes Lance Morrison on bass, Jason Sinay on guitar and drummer Matt Laug.  Campbell is now front and center as the front man.  He is still playing lead guitar, but now he is also singing.

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Even though Campbell never sang with The Heartbreakers, his voice is eerily similar to Petty's. It is just a bit higher.  But the phrasing, cadence and tone is right there. 

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I guess after working with someone for over forty-five years, their influence will rub off on you.

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The band kicked off their over two hour set with a rockin' version of their latest single "Wicked Mind."  

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After "Irish Girl," Campbell decided to veer from the setlist because he was playing a Rickenbacker guitar.  They launched into a great cover of "Feel A Whole Lot Better" by The Byrds.  After the song Campbell noted that "Roger McGuinn is a national treasure and that he (McGuinn) and George Harrison made the Rickenbacker famous."  

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Of course, Campbell and Petty have certainly added many songs that have that famous Rickenbacker sound.  What a joy it was to hear him play that beautiful instrument live again.

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Campbell told a story about how Chris Stapleton wanted to write a song with him.  He said that Stapleton had the song title but not the rest of the lyrics.  He said that Chris was a little embarrassed to tell him the title but noted that it's something almost everyone says at least once a day.  Once he told him the title, "Fuck That Guy" they immediately sat down and wrote the song.  

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The song is very relatable.

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After nine original songs and a cover tune were played, Campbell and company broke out the Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers classic "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)" to the delight of the sold-out crowd.  Campbell explained "We are playing songs off both of our albums, but every now and again we're going to play something old.  One, because I can and two, because these songs deserve to be kept alive."

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"Electric Gypsy" and "Loaded Gun" fit nicely between a slowed down version of Petty's "Refugee" and "Southern Accents."  The later he dedicated to his longtime friend Tom Petty as well as a young fan in the audience that gave him a sketch that he had made of Mike and Jason Sinay.

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The main set came to a close with "Southern Boy."

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After a short break, The Dirty Knobs returned to play a three song encore.  Campbell told the audience, "I'm stealing a line that Tom used to say, 'I hope you paid the babysitter because we're going to be here a while."  The band then launched into a great cover of Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie."

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The band then played a spot on cover of "You Got Lucky" that saw Campbell take an extended solo at the end that included snippets of "Breakdown," "Like A Hurricane," "Rhiannon" and "Elanor Rigby."

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The amazing show came to a close with an electric version of "Running Down A Dream."

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it was so great to hear those Heartbreakers songs again in a live setting.  The Dirty Knobs songs are also great in their own right as well. 

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan

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