Numerous Tributes to Tom Petty Prove Legend's Music Will Never Fade Away

10/8/2017

by Julian Spivey
The sheer number of musicians who performed tributes on television and in concert this week since the news of his death last Monday is a testament to the greatness, importance and all-around legacy of the Tom Petty.

The most important of these tributes took place on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend when country music superstar Jason Aldean, who was on the stage in Las Vegas last Sunday (Oct. 1) when a gunman opened fire on a festival crowd killing 58 in the biggest mass shooting in modern American history, made an important statement about not backing down to hate by performing one of Petty’s most well-known hits “I Won’t Back Down.” The decision to open ‘SNL’ with such a statement, presumably made by show producer Lorne Michaels, was a genius decision that will end up being one of TV’s most memorable and touching moments of the year.
Artists who performed tributes to Petty this week ranged in genre from country and pop to alternative rock and classic rock. It’s really a terrific sight to see as it lets us know instantly that Petty’s music and his all-around contribution to the American songbook will never fade away.

Here are many of the great tributes to Petty performed in the past week: