A Dance With Tom Petty

July 2017

It was a hot July day in London nearing the end of my vacation. The day was spent cramming in as much as the tourist sites as possible aboard a double-decker hop on/hop off tour bus. I think I spent more time detouring around construction and through traffic than actually visiting so as we neared Hyde Park a decision was made to get off the bus and stroll through the park back to our hotel on the opposite side.

The day before, I attended the Barclay Presents British Summertime concert that featured the Killers, the band I traveled all the way from Arizona to London to see. It was a sold out performance filled with all sorts of people. As the night progressed confidence in the crowd began to build and the crowd including myself sang every lyric in unison. It was a feeling I won’t soon forget.

So back to hopping off the bus, to my surprise I could hear Tom Petty taking the stage; although I didn’t have concert tickets for this performance there was nothing preventing me from listening to him from the beautiful grounds of Hyde Park. I didn’t stay for the entire set but I was fortunate enough to hear a handful of songs including Mary Jane’s Last Dance. This song was my favorite because I remember watching the music video on MTV and thinking the song was about a dead woman. Thanks mom and dad for raising some pretty good kids.

As I walked away from the concert area and closer to my hotel Tom Petty’s voice began to fade away but I was still singing Mary Jane’s Last Dance in my head as I wandered my way home through the Italian Gardens of Hyde Park.

RIP Tom Petty and thank you for sharing a dance with me that summer night in London.

Last dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain
I feel summer creepin’ in and I’m
Tired of this town again