Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, BST Hyde Park, gig review: Not one soul left without a smile on their face

The crowd watched in awe as the singer marked his band's 40th anniversary in style

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performing (Rex/Shutterstock)

“The next song is a request," Tom Petty tells the crowd at London's Hyde Park dressed in an oversized red shirt and black waistcoat before wisecracking: “Of course, it’s actually me that requested it.” Not that the 65,000-strong crowd minded as the rocker launched into a rendition of “Walls”, a track from the 1996 soundtrack of She’s the One, the majority belting out the lyrics of the more recent song as readily as his decade-old classics.

After a hectic string of US dates celebrating Petty’s 40th year with rock band the Heartbreakers, the 66-year-old was happy to be back on British turf and it showed. “We are celebrating our 40th year together so we’re gonna look at this show like a giant record, and we’re gonna drop the needle all over it,” he drawled with gusto. He made good on his promise, delivering a set-list that appeased the casual fans and aficionados alike.

Careening about the stage, Petty grooved to the beat of “You Don't Know How It Feels” with a mischievous grin on his face. While no match for Springsteen's ebullience, Petty sure made up for it in musical heft, hammering away at his guitar as the Heartbreakers worked away at their respective instruments around him, shooting revellers' moans of Hyde Park sound issues to oblivion.

Extended versions of beloved tracks rippled through the summer evening (“Don't Come Around Here No More”, “Yer So Bad”) while the deployment of signature track “Free Fallin'" was beautiful in its simplicity.

Stevie Nicks, who branded the main attraction “her favourite rock star” in an earlier support performance, joined the grinning hero midway through his show. “We're gonna do one we know... sort of,” Petty quipped before the two icons duetted on 1981's “Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" assuring all assembled that Barclaycard's British Summer Time festival had perhaps saved its best for last following a week of performances from Justin Bieber, Kings of Leon, The Killers and others.

But this was Petty's show and, backed up by his freewheeling Heartbreakers, he refused to let the intricacies of his songs get lost in the night sky. Admirable assistance was present in the form of backing singers Charley and Hattie Webb, the sibling duo who previously toured with the late Leonard Cohen. At the heart of Petty's rock 'n' roll gold mine, not even they could be stopped from head-slamming to “Refugee” towards the set's climax.

Proving his crowd-commanding prowess with acoustic anthem “Learning to Fly," a song he co-wrote with ELO’s Jeff Lynne in 1991, Petty clearly relished commanding the large audience. He returned to the stage for an encore as quickly as he departed it finishing the evening with a performance of 1976's “American Girl” – more than 40 years later, it somehow sounded record fresh, backing up his earlier promise.

The crowd may have been in the presence of Heartbreakers, but not one soul left Hyde Park without a smile on their face.