Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Preview ‘Mojo’ on ‘SNL’
Saturday Night Live wrapped up its 35th season this weekend with a visit from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, who were making their eighth appearance on NBC’s long-running comedy sketch show. Petty first performed on SNL during the show’s fifth season back in November 1979, and most recently appeared on SNL over a decade ago on a John Goodman-hosted April 1999 episode. For their latest SNL gig, Petty and Co. unveiled a pair of new tracks from their upcoming album Mojo: The group first delivered the Zeppelin-flavored rocker “I Should Have Known It” before returning later in the program with the rollicking “Jefferson Jericho Blues.” Both performances came a month before Mojo will hit stores on June 15th.
Alec Baldwin made a little comedy history this weekend, taking the stage for his 15th turn as SNL host, which brings him even with SNL vet Steve Martin (Baldwin actually brought The Jerk star to the show via satellite to mark the occasion during his opening monologue). The season’s final episode also featured a hilarious Digital Short starring Andy Samberg as a guy having a drug-fuelled and musical “Great Day.”
The Petty tracks capped an SNL season of impressive musical guests. As Rolling Stone previously reported, the season kicked off last October with performances by U2 and Lady Gaga in back-to-back weeks. This season also featured Taylor Swift successfully pulling off double duty as both host and musical guest, plus memorable spots by Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Vampire Weekend, Them Crooked Vultures and, just last week, Jay-Z. Also, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Rihanna in the Digital Short “Shy Ronnie” or Madonna’s catfight cameo with Lady Gaga.