Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench has posted a message announcing his plans to go through with a solo performance later this month in Los Angeles and reflecting on the ongoing process of grieving Petty, who died last week at age 66. Tench begins by voicing appreciation for all the support during this difficult time, noting, “I guess we can & should all just lean on each other through this.” He then explains that he had been planning to perform solo at Largo on Oct. 28 and after some consideration, the show will go on. “You don’t stop playing music on any account, for any reason, and especially when faced with such enormous loss,” he wrote. “You play more, louder, quieter, faster, slower, sad, joyous, angry, celebratory, lovingly.” Read his full message below.

Hey y’all. First off, I want to thank everybody for the beautiful messages of love and support. Everybody has been so kind. It means a lot. I guess we can & should all just lean on each other through this. Weeks ago, before the Hollywood Bowl shows, I had planned a solo show of my own for October 28th at Largo. After what’s happened, I thought hard about whether to go ahead with it, was it right, is it too soon, am I even in a frame of mind to do it. Well, I’m going ahead. You don’t stop playing music on any account, for any reason, and especially when faced with such enormous loss. You play more, louder, quieter, faster, slower, sad, joyous, angry, celebratory, lovingly. So I’m gonna get my Steinway down to Largo on October 28th and play a bunch of my songs, just me & that piano. This is not going to be any kind of a tribute to Tom — that tribute is taking place in my heart, for now; it’s too private, it’s between me & Tom & the great whatever-there-is. But pretty much anything I’ve played since I was 17 or 18 years old has some kinda Tom to it, so maybe it’s all a kind of tribute, in a way. Hope to see you there, and wherever you are… well, you know the rest.

With love & thanks,

Benmont

Hey y’all. First off, I want to thank everybody for the beautiful messages of love and support. Everybody has been so kind. It means a lot. I guess we can & should all just lean on each other through this. Weeks ago, before the Hollywood Bowl shows, I had planned a solo show of my own for October 28th at Largo. After what’s happened, I thought hard about whether to go ahead with it, was it right, is it too soon, am I even in a frame of mind to do it. Well, I’m going ahead. You don’t stop playing music on any account, for any reason, and especially when faced with such enormous loss. You play more, louder, quieter, faster, slower, sad, joyous, angry, celebratory, lovingly. So I’m gonna get my Steinway down to Largo on October 28th and play a bunch of my songs, just me & that piano. This is not going to be any kind of a tribute to Tom — that tribute is taking place in my heart, for now; it’s too private, it’s between me & Tom & the great whatever-there-is. But pretty much anything I’ve played since I was 17 or 18 years old has some kinda Tom to it, so maybe it’s all a kind of tribute, in a way. Hope to see you there, and wherever you are… well, you know the rest. With love & thanks, Benmont link to ticket info in bio. poster artwork: @sherlyholmes

A post shared by Benmont Tench III (@benmonttench) on Oct 13, 2017 at 1:16pm PDT