Tom Petty loves nothing more than performing in England.

The 66-year-old musician - who makes up Petty and The Heartbreakers - is set to headline at the Barclaycard British Summer Time in London's Hyde Park next year, and the star has admitted nothing excites him more than taking to the stage in England because he ''loves'' the country.

He told NME Online: ''Well, we're coming over to England again. Nothing gets us more excited than that. We're so in love with that country. Musically, you can't really be a rock n' roll fan and not realise the debt you owe it.

''I love the idea of playing in Hyde Park; a nice open air place. We're pretty excited about it. Not to sound too corny or anything but it will be a special gig for us. We hope you can make it and we'll see you there.''

And the star has revealed there is sentimental reasoning behind their passion for the UK, which is because it was the first place who ''accepted'' them as a group.

He explained: ''It's especially nice and important to us because England was the first place that accepted us, which is now 40 years since we came there in '77. You can't ever duplicate that thrill of the first time where you hear your record on the radio.''