The Live Anthology

Background

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Petty stated he compiled live material with Mike Campbell and Ryan Ulyate from three decades of live concerts.

In 2008, Ulyate began going through Petty's live archive and created an iTunes library of 170 concerts with a total of 3,509 performances of 400 unique songs. "I made sure Tom and Mike heard every song they ever did", Ulyate said, "And I ranked the concerts with a star system."

Throughout his career, Petty extensively documented his concerts, beginning in the late seventies. "I'm glad we did it. I think this is one of the great live rock & roll bands. And you really understand us once you've heard this set. It was a lot of fun to put together"

Several other songs were mixed, but did not make it to the album. "Shadow of a Doubt (A Complex Kid)", "Don't Do Me Like That" and Eddie Cochran's "Somethin' Else" performed at the Hammersmith Odeon, March 6, 1980, were released on the Deluxe Edition of Damn the Torpedoes.

In November 2009, Harmonix released a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers DLC six-pack with all six songs from The Live Anthology for the Rock Band video game series. "A Thing About You", "American Girl", "Even The Losers", "Here Comes My Girl", "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and "Refugee" are featured. In January 2010. Harmonix released a second Live Anthology pack with "Breakdown", "A Woman In Love", "Century City", "Jammin' Me", "The Nightwatchman" and "The Waiting" featured. As of April 2016, the second Anthology DLC pack has been unlisted due to licensing, while the first is still available.

Deluxe Edition

On November 22, 2009, prior to the release of the standard and digital formats, Best Buy stores offered an exclusive "Deluxe Edition" of the box set. The deluxe edition contains the four discs in the standard edition, and includes a fifth disc of live material, two previously unreleased DVDs, a vinyl remastering of the 1977 album Official Live 'Leg, and a Blu-ray Disc featuring all 62 songs in the box set in 5.1 multi-channel 96K 24-bit audio. The packaging for this edition also includes a concert poster, backstage pass reproductions, a deluxe booklet, a lithograph and more bonus materials.

DVD

400 Days, a documentary shot during the recording and tour for the 1995 album Wildflowers.

Personnel

The Heartbreakers

Tom Petty (all tracks) – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, harmonica, percussion

Ron Blair (1976–1981, 2002–2006) – bass guitar, backing vocals

Mike Campbell (all tracks) – lead guitar, mandolin, Marxophone

Howie Epstein (1982–2001) – bass guitar, backing vocals

Steve Ferrone (1995–2006) – drums, percussion

Stan Lynch (1976–1993) – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Benmont Tench (all tracks) – piano, keyboards, backing vocals

Scott Thurston (1993–2007) – backing vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, harmonica

Additional Personnel

Phil Jones – percussion (1981–1983)

The Big Money Orchestra, arranged and conducted by Jon Brion – strings and horns on "Dreamville", strings on "Like a Diamond"

David Hoskot – percussion on "My Life/Your World"

Stevie Nicks – backing vocals on "Learning to Fly"

Bobby Valentino – violin on "Louisiana Rain"

Del Shannon – rhythm guitar and backing vocal on "Breakdown" (1978 New Year's Eve concert DVD)

Phil Seymour – backing vocal on "Breakdown" (1978 New Year's Eve concert DVD)