Originally posted in August 2010. Unlike Day 1, most of this story survived in the old AdamSooley.ca archive.org capture. I've cleaned it up, added a little context, and brought it back because this is one trip I'm very glad didn't completely disappear along with the old versions of the website.
After spending the night in Tupper Lake, Jodi and I were up and back on the road around 8 a.m. for Day 2 of our trip to Saratoga Springs and this was the day we'd really come for.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
With Crosby, Stills & Nash opening, not exactly a terrible way to spend a Friday night.
Through the Adirondacks
The drive from Tupper Lake down toward Saratoga Springs took us through the Adirondacks, and I remember being pretty impressed with the roads.
Actually, apparently 2010 Adam was really impressed with them.
I described them in the original post as some of the nicest country roads I'd ever driven, with all the hills and turns making it feel like our own personal roller coaster through the mountains.
Beautiful scenery, winding roads, and hardly any traffic, which was great, there was just one small problem. Apparently I was enjoying those roads a little too much.
Hello, New York State Trooper
At some point during our peaceful little drive through the Adirondacks, I looked in the mirror and discovered we had acquired a new travelling companion.
A New York State Trooper, with his lights on and that's generally isn't a good sign.
So, yes, somewhere on our relaxing drive through upstate New York, I managed to get myself a speeding ticket for doing 86mph in a 60mph zone. He marked it down to 65mph in a 60mph zone I think.
Nothing says take your time and enjoy the drive quite like being pulled over by a State Trooper.
I don't know if this was exactly the souvenir I had planned on bringing home from New York, but apparently I wanted something official to remember the trip by.
After my brief roadside introduction to New York law enforcement, we carried on at a slightly more responsible speed toward Saratoga Springs.
Saratoga Springs
Eventually we made it into Saratoga Springs and checked into our B&B.
The whole point of leaving Ottawa the previous afternoon had been to make this part of the trip easy. Instead of spending five hours in the car and immediately heading to a concert, we'd already done most of the driving and could actually enjoy the day.
Well, except for the ticket and I'm still counting it as a win.
We got ourselves settled, explored a little and then got ready for the reason we'd driven all the way from Ottawa in the first place.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
The concert was at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, better known as SPAC, and opening the night was Crosby, Stills & Nash.
That's a pretty ridiculous opening act when you think about it now.
David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash.
Then Tom Petty.
For somebody who grew up listening to a lot of classic rock, this wasn't exactly one of those concerts where you're impatiently waiting for the opener to finish.
Crosby, Stills & Nash sounded great and hearing those harmonies live was worth the trip on its own but then it was time for Tom Petty.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
There are concerts that are good at the time and slowly blend in with all the other concerts you've seen.
This wasn't one of them, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were fantastic
At the time I wrote that it was one of the best concerts I'd ever seen, and more than sixteen years later I don't really have any reason to change that assessment. I was only able to find a few grainy pictures that I took.
Petty had one of those catalogues where you don't realize just how many songs you know until somebody starts playing them one after another.
- Listen to Her Heart
- You Don't Know How It Feels
- I Won't Back Down
- Free Fallin'
- Oh Well — Fleetwood Mac cover
- Mary Jane's Last Dance
- Carol — Chuck Berry cover
- Breakdown
- Jefferson Jericho Blues
- Good Enough
- Running Man's Bible
- I Should Have Known It
- Learning to Fly
- Don't Come Around Here No More
- Refugee
- Encore: Runnin' Down a Dream
- Encore: American Girl
Song after song where the opening few notes were enough for the entire place to know exactly what was coming. That's a pretty good night.
And I actually got to see him again
Looking back at this trip now, there's another part of the story that makes it even better, this wasn't the last time I got to see Tom Petty.
Seven years later, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers came to Ottawa and closed out Bluesfest on July 16, 2017. After driving all the way to Saratoga Springs to see them in 2010, this time they basically came to us and, of course, I went and I have videos this time, just ignore my singing.
- Rockin' Around (With You)
- Mary Jane's Last Dance
- You Don't Know How It Feels
- Forgotten Man
- I Won't Back Down
- Free Fallin'
- Walls (Circus)
- Don't Come Around Here No More
- It's Good to Be King
- Crawling Back to You
- Wildflowers
- Learning to Fly
- Yer So Bad
- I Should Have Known It
- Refugee
- Runnin' Down a Dream
- Encore: You Wreck Me
- Encore: American Girl
Encore: American Girl
It turned out to be one of Tom Petty's final stretches of shows. Less than three months later, on October 2, 2017, he died at just 66 years old.
That makes both concerts mean considerably more to me now.
The first was this little road trip Jodi and I took through the Adirondacks in 2010 complete with a B&B, some beautiful roads and an unwanted contribution to the State of New York courtesy of a speeding ticket.
The second was seven years later, standing at Bluesfest in my own city watching Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers one more time.
I obviously didn't know that would be the last time and I'm just really glad I was there for there for both and experienced one with Jodi.
Adam Sooley
