Photo: Hustle Roses

When I was living in New Orleans, my friend Cecilia and I saw Tom Petty in concert. Our seats were front row, center, so we had a much better view of the stage than we did the crowd. Still. We could tell. We were among the youngest there.

Who cares? We were right in our element and knew the words to all the songs. We were in our early 30's then. Those surrounding us probably weren't a whole lot older than we are now.

In the middle of "Mary Jane's Last Dance," I could hear Cecilia's laugh over the music.

"What!?" I was dying to know. The music was too loud, so I asked with my eyebrows.

She tilted her head toward our seat neighbor then shook her head to let me know she'd tell me later. At the song break, she leaned in an whispered her observation that was so funny.

"You know you're getting older when you score prime seats to a concert, and the woman sitting next to you is wearing orthopedic shoes."

We laughed about this for days.

I'm thinking of it now, because I saw Tom Petty in the trades. He and his Heartbreakers are launching a virtual online tour to promote their upcoming anthology release in lieu of traditional performances on stage. It's apparently the first of its kind for the music world, which gets the attention of my inner new media student. But any show that saves fans the trouble of getting dressed causes my inner shoe whore a bit of distress.

If we start attending concerts in our housecoats in front of computers, I guess I'm flexible enough to accept that change. Just please, please, don't let it be the last dance in Mary Janes.