DIRTBAG History: Dirtbag John’s epic night at the Fillmore with Tom Petty
It was late 1997... Dirtbag Clothing is a only a few years old, being run out of our 5 story walk up apartment in San Francisco. I was still doing freelance video work and one of my clients was Univision Channel 14 Spanish language news. While doing a story, I met a fellow news cameraman, Dennis Callaghan from the CBS station. He liked my hustle getting shots of a huge flood that closed down the freeway-- from that day, we stayed in touch. That's what freelancers did; we NETWORKED!!
A few weeks later, Dennis called me saying, "HEY! ...you want to assist me in taking photos of the Tom Petty gig at the Fillmore? At the time, Tom was the hardest ticket to get in the world…. it was THE concert event of the time, and the buzz was deafening. So before he could finish, I said I'll be there 4 hours early…
I arrive lugging 3 or 4 bags of gear, stoked to be working with a photographer that shot the all the major bands of the 70’s , 80’s and 90’s… I had an all access pass, but never left Dennis as I was there to WORK…. I was watching the gear while Dennis goes to chat with Tom (Petty)... Then, Dennis comes back to say we’re NOT going to shoot the show tonight as Tom was “not feeling it”…. so we’re going to drink… OH BOY!
We got a drink at the bar.. Then, while Tom was on stage Dennis suggested we get our next round not from the bar, but from the band's room backstage. For those who might not know, backstage at the Fillmore is super small and there was an even smaller area just outside where you can see the stage… So, I’m drinking the band's beer at the hottest ticket in town… I’m in heaven…
Someone set off some pepper spray in the venue or something, causing the band to take a break… Me, freaking out as I’m drinking Tom Petty's beer in HIS backstage area that is so small the band could barely fit…so I made the decision to head down the stairs, and to not intrude…. Well-- those stairs led RIGHT to the stage that Tom was leaving, so I literally bump right into him in the stairwell ...I just ran into rock in roll royalty…
SUCH AN EPIC NIGHT.. and a few days later, Dennis tells me to pop over to his place and hands me a signed poster from that night… I have it on my office wall to this day!!! Now they have released a compilation from all those shows that just bring back such epic memories!! The Fillmore has great stories in the history of DIRTBAG…. I’ll tell another story soon.
-DIRTBAG JOHN
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO TOM PETTY: LIVE AT THE FILLMORE
