After previous announcements of headlining gigs at the New Orleans Jazz Fest and the Isle of Wight festival, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have announced a full international tour for 2012. North America will be the first region the tour will tackle, and the first leg will begin April 19 at the 1^st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colo. From there, the tour will run through June 3 in St. Johns, Newfoundland in what the singer/songwriter’s website says will be he first show in the Canadian province. The band also will play for the first time in Nova Scotia with a Halifax show that has yet to be announced. Other American cities on the tour include Little Rock, Albuquerque, Orlando and Austin, Texas. On June 7, the European portion of the tour will begin. Across the pond, the band will hit Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

For one hour today (Thursday, December 15), Petty himself will take to Twitter to answer fans questions about the upcoming shows, as well as the general future plans of the band. The chat will take place at 5:30 EST on the Twitter @TomPetty.

The long running ensemble released its last record, Mojo, in June 2010 and embarked on an extensive North American tour that year to support the album. Mojo debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 album chart, and marked the twelfth studio album released by the band. Additionally, Tom Petty has released three solo albums not attributed to the Heartbreakers, including 1989’s Full Moon Fever. That album turned out to be Petty’s most commercially successful album and contained the hits “Free Fallin’,” “I Won’t Back Down” and “Running Down a Dream.” The only record to eclipse sales of Full Moon Fever was the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Greatest Hits compilation, which was released in 1993, and included songs from the solo album.

As it so often has in recent years, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest has quite a lineup for this year, with the Eagles, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, John Mayer and the Foo Fighters performing headline sets this year. The performances will be the first time either the Eagles or Tom Petty have performed at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, as it is commonly known.  The 2012 festival will take place over two consecutive weekends, April 27-29 and May 3-6. Other notable names playing the festival this year are My Morning Jacket, Florence + the Machine, the Zac Brown Band, Bon Iver, Al Green and Bonnie Raitt.

As always, however, most of the performances will be by Louisiana musicians, with an estimated 85 percent of the performers native to the Bayou state. Some native Louisianans performing this year are Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas and clarinetist Pete Fountain. Festival organizer Quint Davis emphasized the importance of having a varied line up in a press release.

“At its heart, the New Orleans Festival celebrates with our own,” he said. “In addition, this year may be the broadest and most powerful line up of ‘special guests’… This festival really offers the best of both worlds. The heart and soul of the festival is all the Louisiana artists, but added to that is the very best of all these other genres.”

New Orleans Jazz Fest was started in 1970, and has been held as an annual event since that time. It is held on multiple stages set up at the Fair Grounds Race Course, and music is played all day. Additionally, the festival includes local venders who sell crafts and local food, with traditional New Orleans foods such as po’ boy sandwiches and crawfish. Though the festival began as a showcase of exclusively Louisiana musicians, it soon opened doors to performers from beyond the state’s borders, as well as to many different genres.

When Tom Petty headlines the Isle of Wight festival this year, it will mark the singer-songwriter’s first UK show in two decades. The three-day festival will take place June 22 – 24 next year, and Petty will headline the opening night. It was previously announced that fellow singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen will headline Sunday night, though Saturday’s big name hasn’t been released yet. Other notable performers at the festival will be Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds—the new band for the former Oasis guitarist—and the Vaccines, with more artists expected to be revealed in the near future.

Appropriately, the Isle of Wight festival is held on the Isle of Wight in England, and was first held in 1968. Though the festival was held the following two years, it was on hiatus after that point until it was revived in 2002, and has been held every year since. It has been estimated that 600,000 people attended the 1970 event, which has been called one of the largest gatherings of people in the world, and was more people than attended the Woodstock Festival the year before.

For the first show after the hiatus, Robert Plant headlined along with the Charlatans, and attendance was estimated at around 8,000. Attendance has steadily grown since, and last year’s festival gathered an estimated 65,000 concertgoers. Much of this growth has been attributed to the notable headliners that have played the festival throughout the years, which include the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, R.E.M., David Bowie and a reunited Pixies in 2009.

Though the first three shows (1968-70) have no connection to the new festival other than name and being held on the Isle of Wight, they have a special lore in rock history. Though many expected Bob Dylan to play the Woodstock Festival in 1969, since that was where he was living at the time, he instead played the Isle of Wight festival instead, which was held nearly two weeks after Woodstock. This was his first concert appearance since a motorcycle accident in 1967. Other performers at the notable 1970 lineup include The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis.

On Monday, a trump card was played by Michele Bachmann after she made the official announcement that she is running for president when she used “American Girl,” songwriter and singer Tom Petty‘s song, to point out casually to voters the fact that she is the Republican party’s only female candidate so far in the Presidential nomination race.

However on Monday, Petty told Kelly O’Donnell, a reporter with NBC, after Bachmann declared her decision to run for president in Waterloo, Iowa, her hometown, that he didn’t want to have anything to do with the campaign or the celebrity of Michele Bachmann.

According to O’Donnell, Petty’s manager informed her that the superstar emphatically didn’t want his song to be used again by Bachmann, according to a report by Sarah Anne Hughes in the Washington Post.

Michele Bachmann is not the first or only Republican that has been denied by Petty. George Bush in 2000 was told to stop using “I Won’t Back Down,” one of Petty’s songs.

In 2008, John McCain, a Republican presidential candidate at the time, was told to stop using music of John Mellencamp and the Foo Fighters.

However, all candidates do not receive equal treatment.

During Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, she used “American Girl,” the same exact Petty song, without the singer objecting according to Gael Fashingbauer, entertainment producer for today.com.

After being diagnosed with a throat and sinus infection, music icon Tom Petty and his band, The Heartbreakers decided to postpone their show in Phoenix two nights ago and also tonight’s show in Chula Vista as per Petty’s doctor’s orders.

The doctors advised the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer to sit this week out to allow himself to recuperate while the two postponed shows will be moved next week.  Meanwhile, his shows in Los Angeles (October 1) and in Irvine (October 2) will push through as planned.

The Chula Vista show will be moved to October 5 and still at the same venue (Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre) while the show in Phoenix will now be the tour’s end point as it moves to October 7, and still at the US Airways Center.  Those who have bought tickets for these shows for its original dates will still be honored.

This weekend the 35th season of Saturday Night Live concluded with a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers visit. It was the eighth appearance for the band on the long running NBC comedy show. The first performance for Petty on SNL came in November 1979 during the fifth season of the show. His most recent appearance came nearly a decade ago in April 1999 during an episode hosted by John Goodman. For their latest gig on SNL, Petty and Company unveiled two new tracks off of their forthcoming album “Mojo.” First the band played “I Should Have Known It,” a Zeppelin-flavored rock tune, and then returned in the program later to perform “Jefferson Jericho Blues.” “Mojo” will be released on June 15 to stores.

This weekend a little comedy history was made by Alec Baldwin. For the 15th time he took the stage as host of SNL, tying him with Steve Martin. The Jerk star was brought in by Baldwin via satellite during the opening monologue to observe the occasion. The final episode of the season also featured a Digital short which was hilarious. It starred Andy Samberg in the role of a guy who was having a musical and drug-fueled “Great Day.”

The tracks from Petty capped a season of SNL that featured an impressive lineup of musical guests. The season last October kicked off with a U2 performance, followed by Lady Gaga the next week. The season featured Taylor Swift as well, pulling off her double duty as musical guest and host, along with memorable performances from Jay-Z, Them Crooked Vultures, Vampire Weekend, Dave Matthews Band and Pearl Jam. Other great highlights included Rihanna featured in the “Shy Ronnie” Digital Short and Madonna and Lady Gaga’s cat fight cameo.

The starting date for the summer arena tour for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers is being delayed in order to accommodate their upcoming album’s new release date. “Mojo” will be the first new album from the band in eight years.

The reshuffling will affect the trek’s first nine dates. Originally the tour was set to kick off in Raleigh, NC on May 6. The rescheduled dates have been moved to the end of the outing’s 26 city trek. The shows will now take place in September as well as early October.

Originally scheduled concert tickets will be honored for the new dates. Refunds can also be obtained from point of purchase for the original dates. The revamped outing will kick off in Vancouver on June 8.

According to a recent press release, fans who buy their concert tickets online can download MP3s of each “Mojo” track. “Good Enough” and “First Flash of Freedom” can be downloaded immediately. Fans will be able to access the remaining tracks on June 15, which is the physical release date for the album. The online tickets purchases are also going to consist of several live tracks that were recorded on the band’s 2010 tour. They will be delivered at a later time this year.

Last fall, Petty told Rolling Stone that the new set was blues based. The new album is the first from the band since 2002′s “The Last DJ.” Petty added, some of the songs are longer and more of a jammy type of music. A few tracks sound similar to the Allman Brothers in terms of the band atmosphere, not the songs.

“The Live Anthology” was unveiled by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in November. It features classic original cuts and hit singles in addition to favorite cover tunes of the band like “Friend of the Devil” by the Grateful Dead, “Oh Well” from Fleetwood Mac and “Good Good Lovin” from James Brown.

The anthology is currently available in four different configurations: a seven vinyl album box set, deluxe box set, 48 track four disc set and digital download.

It has been eight long years since Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers have released a new album, but it seems 2010 is the magical year. Their forthcoming album entitled “Mojo” doesn’t have a release date on the book yet, but the supporting tour is all set. The band will hit 36-cities in North America starting in Raleigh, North Carolina on May 6 and will wind to a conclusion in Saratoga Springs, New York on August 27. Petty and company have recruited some top notch talent to open their shows including Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joe Cocker, My Morning Jacket, and Drive-By Truckers. A full outline of Tom Petty tour dates including opening acts are outlined below.

For those fans who plunk down their hard earned dinero for concert tickets will receive a free download copy of Tom Petty’s upcoming album “Mojo” on its release. “Good Enough” and “First Flash of Freedom” will be available for immediate download upon purchase. Tickets will be sold via Ticketmaster in the coming weeks. A handful of dates are already slated for the first of March. Checkout Ticketmaster for detailed information regarding onsale dates for your city.

2010 Tom Petty Concert Tour
May 2010
6 – Raleigh, NC – Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion (w/ Joe Cocker)
7 – Charlotte, NC – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (w/ Joe Cocker)
9 – Tampa, FL – St. Pete Times Forum (w/ Joe Cocker)
15 – Dallas, TX – Superpages.com Center (w/ Joe Cocker)
16 – The Woodlands, TX – The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (w/ Joe Cocker)
18 – Phoenix, AZ – US Airways Center (w/ Joe Cocker)
22 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl (w/ Joe Cocker)

June 2010
2 – Chula Vista, CA – Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre (w/ Joe Cocker)
3 – Irvine, CA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (w/ Joe Cocker)
5 – Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena (w/ Joe Cocker)
8 – Vancouver, British Columbia – General Motors Place (w/ Joe Cocker)
11, 12 – Quincy, WA – Gorge Amphitheatre (w/ Joe Cocker)
15 – Calgary, Alberta – Pengrowth Saddledome (w/ Joe Cocker)
16 – Edmonton, Alberta – Rexall Place (w/ Joe Cocker)
19 – Winnipeg, Manitoba – MTS Centre (w/ Joe Cocker)
22 – Saint Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center (w/ Drive-By Truckers)
23 – Omaha, NE – Qwest Center Omaha (w/ Drive-By Truckers)
25 – Milwaukee, WI – Marcus Amphitheater

July 2010
10 – Noblesville, IN – Verizon Wireless Music Center (w/ Drive-By Truckers)
13 – Kansas City, MO – Sprint Center (w/ Drive-By Truckers)
15 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center (w/ Drive-By Truckers)
17 – Chicago, IL – United Center (w/ Drive-By Truckers)
20 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center (w/ Drive-By Truckers)
22 – Auburn Hills, MI – Palace of Auburn Hills (w/ Drive-By Truckers)
24 – Pittsburgh, PA – First Niagra Pavilion (w/ Drive-By Truckers)
28 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
31 – Philadelphia, PA – Wachovia Center

August 2010
11 – Atlanta, GA – Philips Arena (w/ Crosby, Stills and Nash)
12 – Nashville, TN – Sommet Center (w/ Crosby, Stills and Nash)
14 – Darien Lake, NY – Darien Lake Performing Arts Center (w/ Crosby, Stills and Nash)
15 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live (w/ Crosby, Stills and Nash)
17 – Hartford, CT – Comcast Center (w/ Crosby, Stills and Nash)
19, 20 – Mansfield, MA – Comcast Center (w/ My Morning Jacket)
24 – East Rutherford, NJ – IZOD Center (w/ My Morning Jacket)
25 – Toronto, Ontario – Air Canada Center (w/ Crosby, Stills and Nash)
27 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center (w/ Crosby, Stills and Nash)

During some of their forthcoming concerts, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is going to be auctioning off some front row tickets to benefit victims from the Midwestern floods that have hit recently.

Petty and crew are in the middle currently of an outing that will resume on July 2 in Chicago. According to a recent press release, the band usually holds back several tickets from the front row from each show and gives them out to fans who are seated in the venue’s back section. Instead they will be auctioning those seat off for their shows in Noblesville, IN on July 3, in Milwaukee on July 5, in Cincinnati on July 8 and in Alpharetta, GA on July 9.

The first two concert auctions have already begun. The minimum bid for the tickets is $1,000. Starting on July 1, bids for the other two concerts will be accepted. At a later time, auctions will be held for the rest of the non-festival concerts. More information is listed on Petty’s website. All auction proceeds will be going to Habitat For Humanity.

The band continues supporting “Highway Companion,” their studio set that was released in Summer 2006. The album marked the third solo release from Petty and the 18th career album for him overall. It debuted on Billboard’s 200 chart at No. 1. It was the songwriter/singer’s highest ever debut on the chart.

Recently Petty also reformed Mudcrutch, his pre-Heartbreakers group, along with original band mates Randall Marsh and Tom Leadon as well as Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench. In April the band released their first full length set ever. The self titled album made it to Billboard’s 200 chart in the No. 8 spot. The album was supported with an outing across California in April.

Recently Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers re-released their album “Greatest Hits.” In was originally released in 1993. Re-mastered versions from original material is featured on the set along with new artwork. In addition for the very first time it includes “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” the 1981 Heartbreakers/Stevie Nicks collaboration which made it to the NO. 2 spot on the singles chart of Billboard. It marked the first visit for Petty to the Top Ten.

The summer tour of North America for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers has been rolled out. Through late August the band will be visiting festivals, amphitheaters and arenas across the US as well as Canada.

The next stop for the trek ,which is already three shows in, will be on June 5th and 6th in Philadelphia for a stand of two nights. Since the tour was first announced, a second show for the Boston market has been booked along with a couple festival performances, including the Summerfest in Milwaukee, the Mile High Musical Festival’s inaugural event in Denver, the Outside Lands fest in San Francisco and British Columbia’s Pemberton Festival.

Steve Winwood, the veteran songwriter/singer is supporting the outing.

The recent road tour was somewhat surprising. Petty told a reporter previously that his tour in 2007 for supporting “Highway Companion” might be his last.

Petty’s “Highway Companion” was released in Summer 2006, marking the third solo release from the veteran rocker and 18th career album overall for him, It debuted on Billboard’s 200 chart at No. 4. It was the highest ever debut on the chart for the songwriter/singer.

Mudcrutch, the pre-Heartbreakers band for Petty, was also reformed recently along with original band mates Randall Marsh and Tom Leadon as well as Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench. The first full length set ever for the band was released in April. The self title album hit Billboard’s No. 8 spot. The set was supported by the musicians with a trek across California in April.

Recently Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their greatest hits package. The band has also been celebrating 30 years being part of rock and roll music with “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” a box set. The collection of four discs contains a documentary on double DVD, a 30th anniversary concert of the band in Gainesville, FL on DVD, as well as a soundtrack CD that features unreleased and rare tracks. Also available is the accompanying coffee table book.