TOM Petty and the Heart-breakers can still command a venue as large as Jones Beach Theater because jangly, classic-rock songs about outcasts, tormented lovers and rugged individuals have never gone out of style.

At Tuesday’s show, a well matched affair with the Black Crowes winging in the warm-up slot, the Heartbreakers played a generous, two-hour program of audience-friendly classic rock in which they seemed genuinely happy to be playing.

A simple formula – but it worked.

At the beachside theater, there was dancing in the aisles to “American Girl,” and fists pumped to “I Won’t Back Down.” Fans smoked and sang along to the concert opener “You Don’t Know How It Feels” with its toker’s refrain: “Lets roll another joint.”

There are good reasons why Petty has remained relevant over his long career.

He’s a prolific songwriter who rarely releases a dud. He reminded everyone of that with this all-hits program. “Running Down a Dream,” for instance, played mid-concert, proved to be one of the show’s best flat-out rockers and demonstrated that the 1989 radio hit, despite its age, has stood the test of time.

On “Running Down a Dream,” Heartbreaker guitarist Mike Campbell delivered the show’s hottest fretwork, making it look like he was shaking the notes out of his electric six-string.

Petty said the Heartbreakers are working on a new album that will drop later this year, and the band road-tested a couple of new tunes, including the mid-tempo rocker “Turn this Car Around” and an upbeat number called “Melinda.” Although both of these roots rockers were unfamiliar to the fans, they were received as if they’d already topped the charts.

As for the actual hits, “Free Fallin’,” “Breakdown,” “Refugee” and “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” were the night’s highlights.

The Crowes enjoyed success equal to Petty’s, even though they had to work harder for results.

Despite the fact that the Black Crowes had been grounded for a few years while brothers Chris and Rich Robinson attempted solo careers, the veteran rockers – who reunited earlier this year – knew exactly what they had to do to grab this audience.

First, they cranked the volume beyond what they needed to reach the back seats, announcing to tailgaters in the parking lot that the show was on, and they should come in and take their seats. By the second song of the 90-minute set, the house went from empty to near capacity.

The Crowes were also wise to play a set of their most familiar songs, fattening them all with rich, extended blues jams.

While the music of Petty and the Crowes is very different, they were a good match for this double bill. Each draws an inter-generational audience, and both share an odd, but very appealing Southern cool that’s part hippie, part punk.