Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers stopped in Madison last night in the middle of their 30th Anniversary tour (they’ve been around 30 years already?). They played an outstanding show here at the Dane County Coliseum.

Because of the busy day I had at work yesterday, and the gloomy weather we’ve been having for the past week or so, I really had to drag myself off to the show. However, when Tom and the band walked out on stage and started playing the opening riffs of “Listen to Her Heart,” I was instantly glad I came. Judging by the crowd’s enthusiastic welcome, I wasn’t the only one.

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The band I was looking forward to most at this year’s Summerfest was My Morning Jacket. Coming off the heels of one of my favorite albums of 2005, I had high expectations. I wondered how this unique band’s recorded music (which sounds elaborately produced) would come off live. I was not disappointed. The show started off with the opening drones of “Wordless Chorus.” When the lead singer got to the line “We are the innovators, they are the imitators” I thought, you can say that again.

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I’ve spent the past few days in Milwaukee, hanging out with friends and going to Summerfest. One of the great things about the fest can be amount of talent that’s available. With the main-stage amphitheater and seven major side-stages there is of a lot of music going on. Sometimes, the quality of the acts on a given night can be so high it’s tough to decide which act to focus on. In some ways this can be a bad thing. Because there are so many bands you want to see, you can end up seeing a smattering of a lot of acts, missing out on each band’s entire performance.

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This past October, The New Pornographers were scheduled to perform here in Madison. But an emergency appendectomy for band’s bassist postponed the show until last night. When they walked onto the stage at the Barrymore Theatre and began playing, I knew waiting those four months was worth it. The band started off the show sounding energetic and tight with the opening songs “The Jessica Numbers” and “Use It.”

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A while ago I discovered pages in the albums I keep my concert ticket stubs in were turning yellow. Yes, I am a music geek — I save my concert ticket stubs. Acid-free, archival-quality albums were the fix for the problem, so I bought a few. As I was transferring the tickets into the new albums, I was reminded of all those excellent shows I’ve been to. Below are some thoughts on the best:

Sting – July 10, 1988
I’ve seen Sting in concert several times now, but he never tops this show. Probably for a number of reasons: He was promoting his best album, …Nothing Like The Sun, he had an excellent backing band, and my friends and I had great seats (6th row in a 20,000 seat amphitheater). Favorite song from the show: “Englishman In New York.”

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It was almost unbelievable. There I was, in the Dane County Coliseum. Bruce Springsteen was playing one of his rock anthems, “Promised Land.” The 8,000 people in the place were sitting and so quiet you could hear a pin drop, were it not for the music emanating from the stage.

Of course the reason we were all so quiet, instead of singing along with our fists pumping in the air, was the intimate nature of last night’s concert. Billed as a solo acoustic show, Bruce alternated between playing guitar, piano, and even a pump organ on a few songs.

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I wasn’t about to miss going to Summerfest this year, just because I moved 80 miles to the west this past December. However, geography did have an influence on the number of days I went (two compared to my annual average of six days while living in the Milwaukee area).

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Last night I went to my first concert since I moved to Madison and caught Steve Earle‘s show at the Barrymore Theatre.

Musically, Steve and his backing band (the Dukes) rocked the house, concentrating on songs from his two most recent discs, “The Revolution Starts Now” and “Jerusalem.” He didn’t ignore his back catalog though, playing excellent versions of older tunes like “Guitar Town,” “Copperhead Road” and “Goodbye.”

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Summerfest is over. This year, I went to the fest six nights and saw a total of twenty bands (that means I stayed at a stage and listened to at least a few songs — I don’t count “walk-bys”). Here are a few thoughts on this year’s festival.

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Right now, we’re smack dab in the middle of Summerfest here in the Milwaukee area. Last night I was at an outstanding show where Burning Spear (a.k.a. Winston Rodney) and his band performed one of the best reggae concerts I’ve ever attended.

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