You got lucky with this Tom Petty tribute band + 4 more Cape Cod concerts to see

Some Taunton area musicians known collectively as The Breakers will headline the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis as a Tom Petty tribute band, offering what they say is "about as close to seeing and hearing the Heartbreakers as you are going to get."

Read more about them below, but here are three other concerts to put on the calendar for this week:

► Five-time Grammy Award winner Robert Cray will play his combination of blues, soul and R&B at 7 p.m. Saturday at Payomet Performing Arts Center (29 Old Dewline Road, North Truro). Tickets and information: https://payomet.org/.

► The Boston-bred Lake Street Dive band will perform its pop and rock music, which often includes sociopolitical commentary, in a show at 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 14 at the Cape Cod Melody Tent, 21-41 W. Main St., Hyannis; https://melodytent.org. The show will include guest Madeline Edwards.

 ► Falmouth songwriter Brian Engles will release his latest collection of indie songs, including “Summer Music Club,” as part of his “Racing Days” project with an age-21+ launch party at 9 p.m. Friday (doors open at 8 p.m.) at Naukabout Brewery and Taproom, 13 Lake Ave., Mashpee. He’ll be joined by Cape-based electronic duo Orange Peel Mystic and Newport surf-rock trio The Z-Boys for the event. Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Reservations: https://www.eventbrite.com/. Information: https://racingdays.org/, https://zboystonight.com, https://www.orangepeelmystic.com

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

► Jessica Curran, a Cape native now based in Boston, will perform a “Caio e Jess,” show of her original music, with Caio Afiune, at 8 p.m. Friday at The Music Room Gallery & Wine Bar, 541 Main St., West Yarmouth. Beyond club gigs, Curran has performed with The Cape Symphony and she headlined the Provincetown Jazz Festival in 2018. Tickets and information: https://musicroomcapecodtickets.com/; https://www.jessicacurran.com/caio-e-jess/.

For more concert ideas and things to do: www.capecodtimes.com/calendar.

Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll

Hey Tom Petty fans, here are The Breakers

Chris Chartier of Bridgewater and his fellow band members can transport you back to 1976 when Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released “American Girl” as part of their debut album.

Chartier is lead vocals of The Breakers, a Tom Petty tribute band of local musicians, who will be performing Saturday, June 11 at the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis.

He got into music at age 12, first playing piano and then guitar. He loved classic rock performers like Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones.

“Tom Petty was definitely at the top of the list,” Chartier said.

Chartier eventually started playing Petty’s music himself and found he could sound a lot like the singer.

A few years ago, fellow musician Tom Smith of Assonet invited Chartier to join a new Tom Petty tribute band.

At the time, Chartier was working in data and network services and hadn’t been involved in music for 10 years.

“Tom asked if I wanted to be in a tribute band and I laughed,” Chartier said. “I never liked tribute bands. To me, a tribute band was a something I never wanted to do.

“I said, 'I love the music, but I’ll pass.'”

Smith put together a band but it didn’t last. A year or so later, in 2018, Smith called Chartier again.

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This time, Chartier agreed as long as the band wasn’t planning to dress up and wear wigs.

“I said, ‘If it was just play the music as authentic as possible, I’m all in,’” Chartier said. “He said we’d do it as honest as we can.”

Smith’s new tribute to Petty was dubbed The Breakers. Steve George of Plympton is lead guitarist. Rick Hiller of Mattapoisett is the bass player. Evan Smith of North Attleboro is on drums. Tom Booth of Plymouth plays multiple instruments, and Tom Smith plays keyboard. Taunton resident Tim Dorr is road manager.

No wigs or costumes

The Breakers don’t use wigs or costumes for visual effect, but focus on Petty’s music and sound.

“We wanted to approach the tribute genre as a true live band, and in (lead vocalist) Chris Chartier, we have what no one else has — the most genuine-sounding Petty experience in the country,” Smith says in The Breakers’ biography.

“I knew Chris would be really good at it,” said Hiller, who had taught music with Smith in Assonet. “The night he did ‘American Girl’ I thought, 'He sounds just like (Petty)'.”

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Hiller said he learned guitar at 13, inspired by the Beatles. He played in bands into his 30s and also became a music teacher.

The Breakers debuted in August 2019 in Newport, Rhode Island. Next, they sold out a show at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River. The band was just starting to get a lot of concert gigs all over New England when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The Breakers continued in the summer of 2020, playing at open-air venues, and are now performing to classic rock lovers all over the country, including at the District Center for the Arts in Taunton.

“It’s a great reaction,” Chartier said of their audience. “People really love it,” noting it's "unbelievable" how popular tribute bands are.

He said their audience ranges in age from 35 to 75, though he often sees younger crowds at music festivals.

“Kids listen (to) more of what I used to listen to,” Hiller said. “My oldest son likes yacht-rock bands like the Doobie Brothers.”

Why do fans like tribute bands?

Tribute bands appeal to people who grew up with rock music but aren’t finding similar bands today, Chartier and Hiller said.

“There’s not a lot of rock bands today,” Hiller said. “They are electronic or they are singer-songwriters.”

Tribute bands also allow fans to experience the music of musicians they love who are no longer performing or who have passed away, Chartier said. Petty died at age 66 in 2017 of an accidental drug overdose.

“It’s nice because people are very genuinely emotional about the music,” Chartier said. “They really love Tom and he was taken so quickly."

The Breakers play a lot of music from the first three albums of Petty's band, sharing songs like “Free Falling,” “I Won’t Back Down,” “Refugee” and “Breakdown.”

“’Free Falling' — people just go crazy,” Chartier said. “They also seem to like ‘Waiting is the Hardest Part.’”

“’Refugee,’ that’s the one I liked as a kid,” Hiller said. “That’s the one that gives me the most adrenalin.”

“You Got Lucky,” “Cry to Me” and “Listen to Her Heart” also are crowd pleasers, Hiller said.

Hiller also enjoys performing deep cuts, lesser-known songs like “Fooled Again.”

Chartier’s favorite Petty song is “The Wild One, Forever,” but the one he most enjoys performing is “American Girl.”

“If you are a Tom Petty fan, this is about as close to seeing and hearing the Heartbreakers as you are going to get,” Chartier said.

Dream venues

Chartier and Hiller are looking forward to performing for the first time at the Melody Tent. Some day, Chartier said, he’d like to play at Plymouth Memorial Hall where Bob Dylan performed in 1975 or at the Orpheum in Boston to fulfill his childhood dream.

Hiller said he’d like to perform at Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado and would love to travel to Great Britain where they prefer Americans in their U.S. tribute bands, he said.

It would also be great to somehow re-create the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performance at the Paradise in 1978, Chartier said, when the band first came to Boston. The show was recorded and broadcast on WBCN.

To see The Breakers

What: "An Evening with The Breakers: A Tribute to Tom Petty"

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, June 11

Where: Cape Cod Melody Tent, 21-41 W. Main St., Hyannis

Tickets: $34.50 and $44.50

Reservations and information: https://melodytent.org/events/an-evening-with-the-breakers-a-tribute-to-tom-petty/; www.thebreakersband.com.

Donna Whitehead can be reached by email at dwhitehead@tauntongazette.com.