“We’ve never been to this part of the world, it’s very quaint, has a Frontier Land feel to it”, Mike Campbell addressed the Eureka Springs crowd on a wet Friday night. Mike Campbell may be known as the lead guitarist of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers band, but besides being Tom’s right-hand man, Mike is credited as helping write, compose, and produce many of Tom’s songs. Even though Tom is not with us anymore, Mike is still touring and releasing music, and if you like Tom Petty or rock n’ roll, Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs is the perfect antidote.

The band started the show off with “Dirty Job” which showcased everyone’s vocal talent followed by “Lightening Boogie”, both songs from the 2022 album External Combustion. By the fourth song, they were ripping through Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers song, “Listen To Her Heart”, which for a few measures of the song caused the power to go out. One could blame it on the weather, but for everyone in the concert hall, the venue couldn’t handle the rock that Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs were bringing. Regardless of a short power outage, no one in the band skipped a beat and by the end of the song Mike was at the edge of the stage guitar soloing to the crowd.

Following with another Heartbreakers song, the lesser played “Fault Lines” was performed and in a tiny venue like The Auditorium, the bass line sounded thunderous. The crowd sing-along “Fuck That Guy” didn’t disappoint and during “Wicked Mind” Mike introduced his band which included former drummer of the Heartbreakers, Steve Ferrone. Steve just celebrated his birthday to which everyone sung Happy Birthday to him. Steve made a speech about being happy to be here and performing with Mike on this upcoming tour, nothing but high praises and smiles.

The next two songs performed are brand new songs that haven’t been played live yet. “Dare To Dream” was a slow groove song that will feature Graham Nash on the recording and “Hands Are Tied” was more of a rocking song than the latter. Mike didn’t give too many details, but did say these should be released in June which would coincide with their upcoming Summer tour. The last three songs of their set included “Sugar” and “Southern Boy” from Mike’s debut album Wreckless Abandon, and a haunting and slow rendition of Tom Petty’s “Refugee” which Mike asked the crowd to give it up for Tom. A great take and tribute to Tom Petty.

Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs didn’t take long to return to the stage for an encore and the crowd was ready for what they would bring for majority of the crowd was out of their seats and up against the stage. This is what is great about intimate shows like this because you don’t know what will happen and the venue was all for the crowd getting closer. The encore consisted of “I’m So Glad”, originally by Skip James, and three Tom Petty songs. The two songs, “You Wreck Me” and “Runnin’ Down A Dream” were perfectly played as if Tom Petty was there performing them. Even though this show isn’t part of the upcoming Summer tour, if that tour is anything like this show, it is worth going to. If you are a fan of Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, The Heartbreakers, or just straight no gimmick rock n’ roll, get to a show and make sure to check out Mike’s newest album later this year.