Our second concert this year has canceled on us. Carrie-Anne and I had excellent seats to see Mike Campbell, the long-time guitarist and co-founder of The Heartbreakers with Tom Petty, for Tuesday September 10 at the Wagner-Noel here in Midland. Mike and his band, the Dirty Knobs, have just released their third album since Tom’s death in 2017 and we were pumped to see them live. Our seats were on the ninth row, dead center.

But I just got an email notifying me that, due to “unforeseen circumstances,” the show has been canceled.

My initial thought was that something terrible had happened to Mike–Steven Tyler’s exploding larynx has me on edge now with these aging rockers. A quick check of the Dirty Knobs website reveals that the Midland show is not happening, but the show set for the very next night in Austin is still very much on. So is the one in Arlington on the 13th. The only conclusion to draw, even though no one is confirming this yet, is that they didn’t sell enough tickets here in West Texas.

I’m bummed.

Mike co-wrote the music and/or lyrics to more than 90-percent of Tom Petty’s songs so, yes, his stuff sounds a lot like Tom’s. A lot. It’s only natural. Mike was always, since day one and every day for more than 40-years, the heart of the Heartbreakers. The Dirty Knobs sound very much like the first two and the last six Tom Petty records. It’s raw. It’s real. Not many frills. Not a lot of production. Just a band in a studio playing a song together. That’s where Dirty Knobs comes from, the tech slang for a faulty amp dial. It’s what you call a knob on a piece of audio equipment that gives you more crackle than clarity, it’s crunchy instead of smooth. On the old boards in the radio studios of my day, we called them dirty pots. Same thing.

Of the ten to twelve songs they do in concert, Mike always plays at least three or four Tom Petty covers. Carrie-Anne and I were very excited. Well, I was very excited and Carrie-Anne was excited for me and willing to go with me. But now it’s another disappointing email with another promised refund.

Here’s the video to Dare to Dream from their latest album. Watch it. It’s good. Be a little bummed for me. And don’t say anything out loud that might jinx our trip to see ELO in October.