Willie Nile salutes Tom Petty with ‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’ in South Orange (WATCH VIDEO HERE)

by JAY LUSTIG
Willie Nile, Tom Petty

Willie Nile performed Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream” at the South Orange Performing Arts Center, Nov. 10.

Willie Nile opened his set last night at the South Orange Performing Arts Center with a tribute to the late Tom Petty: A fiery version of Petty’s 1989 hit, “Runnin’ Down a Dream.” Check out a video of Nile’s performance, below.

After Petty died, on Oct. 2, Nile wrote on Facebook: “Shocked and heartbroken over the loss of Tom Petty. One of the true great rockers. He gave us all he had and he had deep magic. Sometimes there are no words. This is one of them.”

Nile lists three upcoming New Jersey shows on his web site, willienile.com: Jan. 27 at the Hopewell Theater; Feb. 17 at the Debonair Music Hall in Teaneck; and Feb. 24 at the Lizzie Rose Music Room in Tuckerton.

Here is the video of the song. I have also included a video of Nile’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” from this show; Nile released an album of Dylan songs, Positively Bob: Willie Nile sings Bob Dylan, in June. And below that is a video of James Maddock performing his own “Beautiful Now” (Maddock opened the show).

Thanks to Michael Kosco for letting me know about “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” and thanks to Joe Curreri for posting the videos.

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