Mike Campbell has spent the years since the end of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers building something that can stand on its own. At Warner Theatre on Sept. 22, Campbell and The Dirty Knobs showed just how far that project has come.
I have seen The Dirty Knobs three times in the DC area over the past several years, and the band has continued to develop with each visit. At Warner, Campbell and company delivered more than two hours of loose, muscular rock ’n’ roll, drawing heavily from their newest album while still making room for songs from Campbell’s remarkable past.
The Dirty Knobs are touring behind their fourth album, Mission of Mercy, released June 12. The record dominated the set, with the band playing 10 songs from the album, along with four from its 2020 debut, Wreckless Abandon, and selections from External Combustion and Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits.
Stream Mission of Mercy by Mike Campbell and The Dirty Knobs on Spotify:
The Washington show also came less than a week after an emotional milestone for Campbell in Nashville.
On Sept. 16, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association during the 25th annual Americana Honors & Awards at the Ryman Auditorium. Campbell reunited with Benmont Tench, Stan Lynch, and Ron Blair, the four surviving members of the Heartbreakers’ original lineup.
With Chris Stapleton handling lead vocals, they performed “American Girl” and “Breakdown.” The appearance marked Lynch’s first performance with Campbell, Tench, and Blair since the Heartbreakers’ 2002 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. For “You Wreck Me,” Lynch stepped aside for later Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone, while longtime Heartbreaker Scott Thurston also joined the group. The Nashville appearance was the first official Heartbreakers performance since Petty’s death in 2017.
That history remained close to the surface at Warner Theatre, but Campbell never allowed it to overwhelm the band he has now.
Sarah Lee Guthrie opened the evening with an engaging acoustic folk set. Guthrie, the daughter of Arlo Guthrie and granddaughter of Woody Guthrie, has built her own career as a singer-songwriter while carrying one of American folk music’s most recognizable family names. Campbell made an early appearance during her set, stepping out to play alongside Guthrie before returning later with The Dirty Knobs.
The Dirty Knobs opened their set with “Shake These Blues,” from 2024’s Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits, before moving directly into the new record with “I Remember” and “Let Me Back in My Dream.”
“Sugar,” from Wreckless Abandon, followed, and “Vicious Hangover” emerged as one of the early highlights. The latter is one of the strongest songs on Mission of Mercy, and its swagger translated particularly well onstage.
Campbell remained an easygoing, entertaining presence throughout the night. He talked with the audience frequently, drew laughs, and started a back-and-forth after asking how many guitar players were in the room.
At another point, Campbell spoke reverently about a white guitar that once belonged to blues great Johnny Winter. For a musician whose career has been defined partly by his relationship with guitars, Campbell still seems genuinely fascinated by the instruments and the stories attached to them.
He also spoke about Petty and the decades the two spent together creating music. Campbell’s comments were affectionate and plainly heartfelt. Petty’s absence remains part of Campbell’s story, but Campbell has continued making new music rather than trying to recreate the Heartbreakers.
The current Dirty Knobs lineup is more than capable of giving that music its own identity. The band moved comfortably between the newer material and Campbell’s back catalog, with Ferrone, himself a longtime Heartbreaker, providing another direct connection between the two eras.
The middle of the set included “Done to Me,” followed by band introductions, before Campbell reached back for “Even the Losers.” Later came “Listen to Her Heart,” another Heartbreakers favorite, amid Dirty Knobs songs including “Bongo Mania,” “Fuck That Guy,” the title track from Mission of Mercy, “Armageddon,” “My Mama Told Me,” “Wreckless Abandon,” and “I Still Love You.”
Watch the official visualizer for “Mission of Mercy” by Mike Campbell and The Dirty Knobs on YouTube:
The newer songs did not feel like material the audience simply tolerated while waiting for old favorites. Ten tracks from Mission of Mercy is a substantial commitment to a new album, and the Warner crowd stayed with the band throughout them.
Still, there was no mistaking the reaction when Campbell returned to the Petty catalog.
The three-song encore opened with “Rockin’ Around (With You),” the opening track from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ 1976 debut album. “You Got Lucky” followed, with Campbell’s instantly recognizable guitar work carrying one of the band’s defining songs of the early 1980s.
Then came “Runnin’ Down a Dream.”
Campbell co-wrote the song with Petty and Jeff Lynne for Petty’s 1989 solo album, Full Moon Fever, and his guitar has always been essential to the track. At Warner Theatre, it made for a natural closer, sending the crowd out on one of the evening’s biggest highs.
That encore also captured what makes The Dirty Knobs work. Campbell does not need to leave the Heartbreakers behind, nor does he need to spend an entire night revisiting them. The Dirty Knobs give him room to play new songs, tell stories, stretch out on guitar, and occasionally open the door to a catalog that remains enormously important to both him and his audience.
After several years of seeing this band develop, the Warner Theatre performance felt like another step forward. The Dirty Knobs sounded confident in the new material, while Campbell seemed entirely comfortable moving between the music he is making now and the songs that helped define his career.
The Dirty Knobs return to the DC area Oct. 2, when they support Chris Stapleton at Jiffy Lube Live. The band is also scheduled to perform Oct. 10 at Mempho Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee.
For Campbell, the songs he made with Petty remain an unavoidable and welcome part of the story. At Warner Theatre, however, The Dirty Knobs made clear that there is plenty of story left to tell.
Setlist
1. “Shake These Blues”
2. “I Remember”
3. “Let Me Back in My Dream”
4. “Sugar”
5. “No Regrets”
6. “Wrecking Ball”
7. “Vicious Hangover”
8. “In This Lifetime”
9. “Done to Me”
10. “Even the Losers”
11. “Bongo Mania”
12. “Fuck That Guy”
13. “Mission of Mercy”
14. “Armageddon”
15. “My Mama Told Me”
16. “Listen to Her Heart”
17. “Wreckless Abandon”
18. “I Still Love You”
Encore
19. “Rockin’ Around (With You)”
20. “You Got Lucky”
21. “Runnin’ Down a Dream”
Here are some photos of Mike Campbell and The Dirty Knobs performing live at Warner Theatre on Sept. 22, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of James Todd Miller.
And here are some photos of Sarah Lee Guthrie performing live at Warner Theatre on Sept. 22, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of James Todd Miller.
