It was on September 25 of 2017 — just one week before his death — that Tom Petty stood on stage alongside his troupe of trusty Heartbreakers and performed his final concert before a sold-out crowd at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. According to Exclusive Radio, the show was the final date of his band’s reunion tour, and by means of bringing it all home, he and his band delivered a thunderous execution of their 1976 classic, “American Girl.”
The show was one of three sold-out concerts that Petty and his band had scheduled that week in LA. Tragically, nobody in attendance that night knew what was to come. On the night of October 1, 2017, Petty was found unconscious at his home and rushed to the hospital. Though he still had a pulse, brain activity had ceased and on October 2 Petty was taken off of life support, per Billboard. Later it was determined that he died of an accidental drug overdose. According to NBC News, he’d ingested a lethal dose of fentanyl and other prescription medications he was taking to treat severe pain associated primarily with a fractured hip. He was 66 years old.
