I'm trying to get a TP band started in the Philadelphia market. I was wondering what kind of events/venues other Petty cover bands have had success marketing to. Your standard bar gig probably doesn't work -- I'm assuming they'd prefer more of a traditional mix. Any ideas/success stories you've had out there are most welcome.
Thanks

We, "Petty Thief" from Seattle, do a mixed bag of sorts....we do "tribute nights" where we team up with one or two other tribute bands and we each play a 1 hour set...we also do nights by ourselves where we do an opening 1-1/2 set of Petty covers and then come back and finish the night playing other classic rock cover songs. And then there's the Summer Festivals/Fairs/Outdoor Concerts in the Park that we've done, where's its an all Petty covers gig. We've played Bars/Clubs, small Taverns, Fairs, and Festivals. It's been a blast so far....oh, BTW, have you seen our new banner?? LOL!!!

http://www.myspace.com/pettythiefrocks

Best of luck to you guys....keep us posted on how your progress is and when you start playing live!!

Thanks for the advice. We're also toying with the idea of becoming 3 "mini-tributes" -- do a set of Petty, then a set each of two other bands. I've also talked to some hotel owners at the Jersey Shore. They do these "Girlfriend Getaway" weekends in the summer, where groups of women come for the weekend, and there's usually a theme -- Woodstock, or disco, or 70's. There seems to be interest there for an all Petty as part of a 70's-80's theme. Rock out, get 'em dancing and buying drinks, etc.

I'll keep you posted here. Banner is awesome, like the site and the stuff sounds great.

I'm getting one started in the Chicago area. We're planning being "just" Petty, except for While My Guitar Gently Weeps (which Petty covered at R+R HOF). The bars we've played liked it and we got very good response. Our main focus will end up being festivals. We're already booked for one next summer and hope to do many more.
Every area is different. Mine is loaded with "Tribute" bands and the better ones do very well. A friend of mine is in a AC/DC Tribute band they pretty much have their choice of bars to play. The bottom line like anything is that if you do it well, people will come.
I don't know how far you are into this but you'll find it's probably a lot tougher than it may sound. For instance, the chord progressions aren't that tough to figure out but the voicings of the chords are, rarely are they played "straight". Finding a keyboard player (or two) that can handle the keyboard parts is tough. A lot of keyboard guys think it's "guitar" music and there's no challenge for them. Then they try it and suddenly there's too much for them to handle. Last but not least is the background vocals. Free Fallin' has been brutal to try to do, with full three part harmony on top of Petty's vocals. Finding great playing musicians who can sing like that isn't easy.
I guess what I saying is if you're going to do it, do it right. Good luck. If you'd like check out my site www.pettyprofits.com. I'm not thrilled with the song on there right now, I don't think it' as good as the others we demoed. We just got it going about a week ago. So it's a work in progress.

All good points there, Iffy and Chap. Despite my moniker here, I'm not the keys guy. We've had 2 guys show interest then drop out. So that's a big hole we have to address. We've got 3 good voices, but I won't claim we really have the harder songs worked out vocally.

We're also kicking around the idea of doing a "semi-Petty" set of Wilburies, and stuff TP&TH have covered, including the Concert for George stuff, as well as maybe "I've Been Everywhere" from the Johnny Cash album they played on.

Don't be too hard on yourself, Iffy. Sounds fine, especially for a week into it. We've played once, so I'm in no place to judge. My problem is my drummer is itchy to play out, so we're kind of already wandering off the Petty thing and into the typical setlist cover band thing. Which I just don't want to do. Sweet Home Alabama... Moondance.... All fine songs. Done to death.

I know what you mean about falling into the trap of the standard bar crap. Our old bass player got us booked into a 4 hour show and we really didn't have enough material worked out. Since we were playing in Indiana we ended up doing some Mellencamp. Some in the band started pushing for more songs they "knew" it turned into a bloodbath and people were let go. All of us are guys who have been around for awhile and don't want to do all that tired old stuff that everyone does because it's easy and they think it's what people want to hear. The last time we played someone asked if we were going to play Mellencamp, my lead guitar player replied "@#%* Mellencamp" it almost brought a tear to my eye.
We'll end up doing Wilbury's too when we've learned everything we want to of Petty's. If you want to do covers that Petty has done there's a site called "girl on LSD" and he has lists of concerts that Petty has done and what songs were played. Good luck.

Our female back up singer comes forward to front the band on some Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac and Janis Joplin tunes when we do full nights....always goes over well.

Chap - yeah, good stuff there. There's a good story from when they were doing that at Cash's home studio. They'd go in and have meals right at the family dining table. The first night, Johnny says the blessing over the dinner, thanks God for the food and friends, etc. and says "Amen." Pauses for a second, looks at Petty and says, "I DO miss the drugs, though."

Iffy - 4 hour show?! Everybody take an extra long solo, every song. "Eff Mellencamp," too funny. My Dad was best buddies in the Navy with Mellencamp's Dad. We grow up hearing about his Navy bud from Indiana with this funny name. Then, one day "John Cougar" becomes "John Mellencamp," and we started to make the connection. Too bad only one of their sons became a rock star! And too bad it was him, not me!

Seattle - yeah, that's a great option. Gives you the Stevie voice for a few Petty duets (as well as help on the harmonies), then you have a whole different sound and focus for the other parts of the show.

Yeah, I think I saw it on some tribute to JC when he died on CMT maybe. But it's actually Petty telling the story, and he delivers that "I DO miss the drugs" line real dry like he does, and just smiles.

I guess I posted in the wrong place.

These guys somehow got a mention on a radio station here. If you look at the tour dates you can see what kind of places they are playing

Looks like they are in MN area.

http://www.freefallin.us/

Looks like bars and grills. They even have an agent. Good grief.

Thanks. Yeah, some joints only work with agents, and I guess if you're putting together that big a "tour" it's worth it. They're way more into it than we're thinking. We all have day jobs, etc. Just looking for a gig or two a month for fun. Also, we won't be doing the "lookalike" thing.

I tried the "Girl" singer route. It's kind of a tough thing to pull off. Most aren't willing to just step into the background except for one or two songs and even less can add something in the way of instruments. For now we're going with the five piece thing and hope we can run accoss a female who can fill the "Scott Thurston" role as well as sing the "Stevie" and background.
Our lead guitar player's wife helps a little on the keys and at a couple of parties we've played she got talked into singing Stop Draggin my Heart Around but she has to be well served in order to get the courage to sing.