Watch Mike Campbell Perform The Song Tom Petty Wrote With Robbie Robertson At ‘Life Is A Carnival’

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell had a busy night on Thursday during the Life Is A Carnival: A Musical Celebration Of Robbie Robertson concert at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles. Not only was Campbell a key member of the all-star show’s house band, but he also fronted a stirring performance of a Heartbreaker classic Tom Petty wrote with an assist from Robbie Robertson.

Campbell was joined in the Life Is A Carnival house band by Heartbreakers bandmate Benmont Tench on keys along with Ryan Bingham, Jamey Johnson, John Medeski, Dave Malone, Terence Higgins, Cyril Neville, Don Was, Mark Mullins and The Levee Horns. The otherworldly ensemble backed an all-star cast of performers that included Van Morrison, Jim James, Lucinda Williams, Nathaniel Rateliff, Margo Price, Bruce Hornsby, Warren Haynes, Robert Randolph, Allison Russell, Taj Mahal, Daniel Lanois and Eric Church throughout the four-hour concert.

After the show opened with a video tribute to Robbie Robertson and an invocation and music from Native Americans Verdell Primeaux and Zee Wilson, Eric Church fronted the house band on “Up On Cripple Creek.” Then, Bingham had a turn in the spotlight for fellow The Band classic “Ophelia.” Next came Mike Campbell’s feature.

Mike Campbell sang “The Best Of Everything,” the last track on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ 1985 album Southern Accents. Petty wrote “The Best Of Everything” years before the sessions that yielded the record. Tom Petty turned the song over to Robbie Robertson for use in the soundtrack for Martin Scorsese’s 1982 film The King Of Comedy. Robertson took “The Best Of Everything” with the understanding that he could do whatever he chose to the track.

Robbie Robertson envisioned a brass arrangement on the tune and brought in former The Band members Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel to overdub keyboards and backing vocals on the number. Additionally, as American Songwriter noted, “Robertson eliminated some lyrics he felt were extraneous, boiling the song down to its essentials.” While “The Best Of Everything” didn’t make it into The King Of Comedy, Petty chose the revised song to end Southern Accents a few years later.

Mike Campbell told the crowd at The Kia Forum about the Petty/Robertson connection before helming “The Best Of Everything.” Watch fan-shot footage of the performance below:

Campbell, Tench and the other members of the Life Is A Carnival house band will soon hit the road for the 2024 The Last Waltz Tour. The Robertson/Band tribute trek begins on Saturday in San Francisco and hits cities across the U.S. and Canada until November 16.

Scroll below to see a full list of dates.

Setlist (via Phish.net)

Set One: Up on Cripple Creek (Eric Church), Ophelia (Ryan Bingham), The Best of Everything, Evangeline (Margo Price), Acadian Driftwood (Allison Russell), Straight Down the Line (Robert Randolph), Who Do You Love? (Taj Mahal), Down South in New Orleans (Dave Malone), Go Back to Your Woods (Bruce Hornsby), King Harvest (Has Surely Come) (Bruce Hornsby), The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Jamey Johnson)

Set Two: Broken Arrow (Daniel Lanois), Life is a Carnival (Warren Haynes & Taj Mahal), Whispering Pines (Lucinda Williams), Twilight (Nathaniel Rateliff), Across the Great Divide (Nathaniel Rateliff), Rag Mama Rag (Jamey Johnson), Don’t Do It (Nathaniel Rateliff & Margo Price), Tupelo Honey (Van Morrison), Days Like This (Van Morrison), Wonderful Remark (Van Morrison)

Set Three: The Shape I’m In (Eric Clapton), Out of the Blue (Eric Clapton), Forbidden Fruit (Eric Clapton), Chest Fever (Eric Clapton), Further on Up the Road (Eric Clapton), Forever Young (Ryan Bingham), It Makes No Difference (Jim James), Stage Fright (Warren Haynes), Caravan (Warren Haynes), When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob Weir), The Unfaithful Servant (Trey Anastasio), Look Out Cleveland (Trey Anastasio), The Weight (Trey Anastasio, Bob Weir & Mavis Staples), I Shall Be Released (All)