I won tickets to this show from my local radio station (back then it was 93.3 KDWZ). It was the station with current music and some decent rock mixed in. In the early 90s, for some reason, I was really good at being X caller when you hear Y song. REALLY good. I would usually win about once a week and often once a week at multiple stations. I never won any big prizes, but always had plenty of cassettes, CDs, and station merch. For this Tom Petty Giveaway weekend, you had to be caller 10 when you heard a Tom Petty song...I ended up winning 3 times over the weekend (so that would have been 3 pairs of tickets), although on the third time I told the DJ to give them to the next caller after he recognized my voice. This would not be possible now, as all radio stations that I know about now have some rules like "you can only win every 30 days."
At the time, I was more interested in seeing the opener Lenny Kravitz. Let Love Rule had been out about 6 months at the time and was doing decent. It still seemed like he was pretty unknown, but I enjoyed the album quite a bit so was looking forward to seeing him live. In my young brain, Tom Petty seemed a little dated, even while I did highly enjoy the current Full Moon Fever album...I think my brain was a little skewed because of his work with The Traveling Wilburys (which I also enjoyed...but so did my parents.)
Free tickets aren't usually the best seats and this was no exception...we were in the balcony. I thought Lenny Kravitz put on a good show although I thought he sounded a little tinny through the PA system. Instead of sounding like a rock concert, it sort of sounded like a giant radio at the end of a long concrete hallway. Tom Petty sounded much better but I admit that I didn't pay as much attention as I should have...I spent a lot of time looking around for hot girls instead of watching the show. I wish I could go back and change that now.
