Free Fallin' Fun

All good things — like Tom Petty (and ZZ Top) — come to those who wait

Special guest ZZ Top rocked the crowd.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers were worth the wait.
Photo courtesy of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Good things come to those who wait, especially if you love Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

Houston-area Petty fans had to sit on their hands a long time for their hero and his band to return to the Houston area. The show was originally suppose to happen in May, but the band got a better offer — a guest spot on Saturday Night Live — pushing the date back another four months. But after Friday night's boogie-blues to hard-rockin' guitar stomp through the bands catalog... all is forgiven.

Petty and the Heartbreakers broke off a 17-song, two hour set that included everything from early hits like "Refugee" to generous sampling of the band's new album, Mojo. Past favorites spilled from band's strings, keys and skins all night, but every song took on the characteristics of the swampy bursts of guitar experimentation that are the signature of the Mojo sound.

The Heartbreakers — guitarist Mike Campbell and Scott Thurston, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drumer Steve Ferrone and original bassist Ron Blair (who was welcomed back to the ensemble for the first time since 1982) — were not merely the supporting cast at this Petty show. More than many in recent memory, this was a group effort and unusually animated and energetic Petty seemed completely at ease sharing the spotlight with his longtime mates.

After warming up the crowd with the mid-tempo sway of "Listen to Her Heart," Petty eased the group into the gentle soft rock trio of late-80s/early 90s favorites including "You Don't Know How It Feels," "I Won't Back Down," and "Free Fallin'."

It was all a ruse to lull the crowd into the false notion that this was going to be some sort easy rockin', hand-holdin' night of nostalgia.

Hardly.

A strong power chord from Campbell and an unlikely fast-talking oratory sermon by Petty opened a surprising rapturous cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well," a little known song from Mac's pre Buckingham-Nicks British Blues roots.

Such an esoteric and full-flavored cover was notice from the band that said, "This is where were going tonight. Hope you enjoy the ride."

From there Petty led the band through sing-along of of "Mary Jane's Last Dance," an elongated, beautifully sweaty and soulful version of "Breakdown" (my personal favorite highlight of the night) and a hypnotic, Middle-Eastern inspired burn on "Don't Come Around Here No More."

In between the hits was a four-song set from new album Mojo.

It 's probably fair to say that Mojo will not be remembered for its hit singles in the future, but there may be not better album to hear the Heartbreakers play live in the band' entire 34-year catalog. "Jefferson Jericho Blues," and "Running Man's Bible" in particular straddle the line between gospel and the gut-bucket blues and feature guitarist Campbll and Petty teaming up for some of the most impressive vamps ever seen performed by the band.

The near-catharsis almost made one forget about one rock n' roll's best encore songs ever, "American Girl." When the familiar early rock jangle began, the Woodlands Pavilion collectively jumped on last time before going home happy that they waited patiently for this show.

Bonus points with ZZ Top appearance

Petty and the Heartbreakers may have been the headliners, but special guests ZZ Top set the blues bar pretty high to open the night.

The bearded trio's name may not have been at the top of the marquee, but when Billy Gibbon, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard (he's the drummer with no whiskers) take the stage anywhere near their hometown of Houston they are always greeted as the main event.

The sold out amphitheater crowd came early to groove along to a 12-song set and even a few surprises.

Twelve-bar blues-based radio standards from the group's early 70s beginnings like "LaGrange" and "Tush" were paired with the mid-80s MTV hits "Legs" "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Got Me Under Pressure. " Die-hards looking for the trio to dig a little deeper into the ZZ Top songbook, were rewarded with a non-single double-shot of classic jams from 1973's Tres Hombres album: "Waiting For the Bus" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago." It was followed by a scorching cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" that fans can only hope was recorded for release for a future live album.

unspecified

Movie Review

Robert Pattinson and Zendaya face pre-marriage jitters in The Drama

Photo courtesy of A24

Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in The Drama.

Robert Pattinson and Zendaya will be seen together a lot at the movies in 2026, with mega-films like The Odyssey and Dune: Part Three coming out later in the year. But fans can get a much more intimate look at the two stars in a film that offers a unique take on relationship struggles, The Drama.

Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Pattinson) are a New York couple who are engaged to be married. After a quick-but-effective montage of their courtship, the story joins them as they are just days away from their wedding. As they get all the details like music, flowers, and food finalized, a visit to the caterer with married friends Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie) proves fateful.

A few too many drinks leads to each member of the group deciding to divulge the worst thing they’ve ever done. While each story is slightly shocking, Emma’s takes the cake, so much so that Charlie starts to question their relationship. As they get closer to the wedding date, Charlie finds it increasingly difficult to get beyond Emma’s revelation, with each real or imagined conversation threatening to derail their previously tight bond.

Written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, the film is provocative, funny, and cringey as it tries to get to the center of human dynamics. Charlie, Rachel, and Mike have starkly different reactions to Emma’s story, and the way those play out over the course of the film provides, well, the drama. The harder Charlie tries to justify Emma’s past, the more his underlying feelings start to eat at him, causing friction not just between him and Emma, but in other parts of his life, as well.

Strangely, especially for a character played by Zendaya, Emma recedes more than expected. Her explanations for her previous actions are timid at best, and she mostly seems to be waiting for Charlie to forgive her instead of questioning why she needs forgiveness. Borgli favors the male side of the equation, and in so doing he doesn’t dig as deep into the root of the issue as he could have.

Still, the downward spiral at the center of the story has a propulsive nature to it, and each successive step proves to be both hard to watch and impossible to turn away from. It also helps that Borgli manages the tone well, keeping interactions between characters relatively light so that the film doesn’t turn into one like Marriage Story.

Pattinson, who gets to use his own British accent for once, put on an interesting performance that is much better than his last two roles in Mickey 17 and Die My Love. He has good chemistry with Zendaya, who manages to shine despite being laden with a role that doesn’t play entirely to her strengths. Haim and Athie do good work in small roles, while Hailey Grace and Hannah Gross make an impact in brief appearances.

The situation in which Emma and Charlie find themselves in The Drama is not one to be wished on anyone, but it’s presented well by Borgli, keeping tensions high for the bulk of the film. Despite the two main characters not given completely equal footing, the story finds a way to get to a satisfactory ending.

---

The Drama opens in theaters on April 3.

movies film