For reasons surpassing understanding, Tim Lynch was willing to sell me two tickets for the Friday Billy Joel concert at Shea for the face price, rather than the insanely inflated prices that said tix were fetching on ebay. As a result, Ariel and I accompanied Tim and his wife, Lisa, to witness a slice of history.
Worth. Every. Penny.
When Ariel is 107 and can’t remember the names of her own kids, she will remember this concert.
Joel was in rare, albeit heavily shvitzing, form. He playfully covered a full chronology of his songs old and new, although naturally the biggest reactions came for his classics. Guest stars included Tony Bennett, Roger Daltry, Garth Brooks, and of course the biggest name of all: Sir Paul McCartney. (I have to think that ticket holders who went to the Wednesday night concert, which was minus Sir Paul, must have been spitting tacks. ) The rendition of “I Saw Her Standing There” had Ariel slightly disconcerted as the seats overhead were visibly shuddering rhythmically under the stomping feet of the fans. I had to explain to Ariel the bizarre tradition of the artist leaving, then being brought back for an encore, then leaving again, and then another encore. It was on the second encore, as the clock hit midnight, that Sir Paul showed up and the place went nuts. Joel willingly took a back seat as McCartney brought the concert history of Shea full circle, with “Let it Be” being the last song sung at Shea.
The funny thing was that Ariel wasn’t all that familiar with Billy Joel until suddenly he started doing songs that she associated with the Boogie Knights. She knew the parody versions rather than the original and was surprised to hear the actual lyrics.
The picture above of Joel (whom I slowly seem to be starting to resemble) is courtesy of the Jumbotron, and the smaller picture is McCartney and Joel on stage. Not bad for being up in the mezzanine. Not all of us could be sitting tenth row from the stage like Christie Brinkley.
PAD
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Surpassing understanding?
You’d just been kvetching here about missing the tickets for the Wednesday show, so it seemed obvious enough on this end once we knew we had tickets for the Friday one. 🙂 (Besides, you finally got to see pictures of Katherine, the Cutest Almost-Four-Year-Old In the World.)
In any case, glad you enjoyed it. The friend sitting next to Lisa had her phone out to broadcast “Let It Be” to her mother, who apparently called her back in tears of joy half an hour later.
As Lisa put it, “Three and a quarter hours of an awesome Billy show, and all we’re going to do is squeal ‘we saw PAUL!'”
Glad you liked it, and I hope Ariel found it an acceptable substitute for missing Avril Lavigne!
TWL
I have not the words to describe the depth of my jealousy. *sigh*
Oh, and the one guest star Peter didn’t mention, about mid-concert: Steven “How in God’s name did someone looking like me wind up with a hot-looking daughter” Tyler, who did one song (“Walk This Way”, naturally).
I’ve now been as close to an Aerosmith concert as I really need to be.
TWL
Nice! Good going, Tim. Sounds like a classic.
I have to second Mrs. Elayne Riggs comments. I have not the words to describe the depth of my jealousy. I’m going bowling. 🙂
Yes, those of us who went Wednesday — and we had floor seats which cost a lot but we figured it was worth it for what we thought was a last concert ever at Shea — were rather annoyed. He did apologize, said he sucked. But still… We got to see Tony Bennett, John Mellencamp, and Don Henley, but not McCartney, of course. That was saved for the last last concert.
That I got hurt a half hour before the end and my husband and I missed that final half hour thanks to a trip to the ER, just made it more annoying.
Wait, you got to see —
And then —
But —
.
..
…
AAARGHHGAHAAAA*Extreme Envy*
Last time I saw Billy in concert was the “Billy and Elton play their old s*** tour”, quite a while back.
Last concert I saw was Sting in Hiroshima, and that was four years ago. I need to get out more.
Rob said:
Last concert I saw was Sting in Hiroshima, and that was four years ago. I need to get out more.
They Might Be Giants come to DC about twice a year. For some reason or another I miss them every time. They’re coming around my birthday this year, as they do almost every year. At least this time it is a concious decision. They’re touring with as part of a Disney promotion doing most of the kiddie material. Some of which is good– but I would still rather see them in normal concert.
Though I have to say– the three best concerts I’ve ever been to were Weird Al (I won front row center seats to Bad Hair Day back in 1996) and the National Symphony Orchestra doing the 1812 Overture the way it was intended. They used actual canons.
Ouch. I’m sorry, Shelly — both for the Wednesday problem and for getting hurt. I hope you’re okay now!
TWL
and the National Symphony Orchestra doing the 1812 Overture the way it was intended. They used actual cannons.
Did they fire on the audience? Because that would be cool.
PAD
My first real exposure to Billy Joel was when I bought the “Glass Houses” album at the tender age of 10. It was a defining moment for me, because he was the first rock musician whose music I really cared about. And looking at these pictures of Joel today, it’s hitting me: that was 28 years ago.
Shìŧ. Where *does* the time go?
I am so filled with envy. What an incredible experience for Ariel. “The last song sung at Shea” … was “Let It Be….” that is just so perfect. You and Ariel experienced history.
Are you (or is anyone) going to either of the last games at Shea or Yankee Stadiums?
Thanks, Tim. My face is looking better and I’m seeing an orthopedist on Friday for follow-up on my shoulder. Yes, it was that bad a fall.
Mets season ticket holders got first crack at Wednesday night’s concert, which is how we got floor seats. But there was no priority for season ticket holders on Friday, so we had no chance for that unless we tried elsewhere and paid a fortune. I would’ve loved to see McCartney.
Sounds like a great concert.
We’ve been to several concerts in the last 6 years, but now we’ve decided to pick and choose those that are the most worth going to.
Like, we went to see Aerosmith (with Cheap Trick), and Metallica (with Godsmack). Good concerts.
But then we went to Sting & Annie Lennox, and then Pearl Jam & Tom Petty. Those were *great* concerts. We were also supposed to go to an Aerosmith & Lenny Kravitz show, but iirc that was when Steven Tyler had his mystery throat surgery, and then by the time they rescheduled, Kravitz had dropped off the tour, so we just got a refund.
There was a new Mile High Music Festival here in the northeast suburbs this weekend and it had several name groups, but it was too dámņ hot to want to attend. 🙁
Hmmm. The last concert that I went to was seeing the amazing Neil Innes perform at the Egyptian Theatre as part of a benefit for the Theatre. He is the composer and played Ron Nasty in The Rutles tv movie and was a member of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band from the 60’s.
Yes, it was that bad a fall.
That’s awful. What happened? Did someone bang into you?
PAD
Talk about stepping in it! I saw Billy Joel so many years ago I can’t remember which tour – sometime after Stormfront.
And shame on you for not exposing Ariel to his music sooner!
(I must confess, I have a whole separate track on my iPod of Boogie Knights songs and their originals, so my kids are well-acquainted with both, ’cause yeah, that’s all they think of at first, too.)
At 11:15, one of the ushers was a friend of our friends and offered to move us to seats closer to the stage, so we figured, why not? As we were walking over, and I was moving kinda quickly to keep up, a group of women moving the other way knocked into me. I really don’t remember much, just pitching forward. My glasses flew off, and after grabbing them, I made sure my camera was ok. But my shoulder hurt enough that when the Shea EMS guys came over and asked if I wanted to go to the hospital for x-rays, I realized I should.
I’m consoling myself that even tho I missed the last 30-40 minutes, I would have missed McCartney anyway, but still, both are annoying.
I did see parts of Shea — under the left field seating — I’d never seen before and hope to never see again, and I did get to stand on the warning track before the show, where Endy Chavez made his amazing catch, so that was cool.
Bill,
And looking at these pictures of Joel today, it’s hitting me: that was 28 years ago.
Well, that’s frightening — it means we’re exactly the same age. Shìŧ, when did you turn 38?
Shelly,
Yikes, that’s awful — I’m really glad it seems to have been no worse than it was.
The only, and I mean ONLY, silver lining to that whole mess is that you presumably managed to avoid the whole crowd on the way out. I don’t know about Wednesday, but on Friday we were so crowded in and hot/sweaty that tempers were starting to flare, and it wouldn’t surprise me if a fight or two broke out behind us somewhere. Not a fun experience. (PAD, did you run into that as well? You and Ariel were a few minutes ahead of us.)
TWL
I saw Billy perform last year in Ft. Lauderdale. He came out, sat at the piano and said, “Hi. I’m Billy’s father. I’m going to warm up the crowd while he gets ready.” We laughed as we realized he does look old enough to be his father now. Then I realized I’m old enough to be my father, too! Time sure flies…
Thanks, Tim. I don’t know about the crowd on the way out, but it can’t have been much worse on Wednesday, at least, than a sold-out Mets game. Getting out of Shea on Opening Day was a pain. There’s only one way around the stadium with the new ballpark in the way. There were a lot of drunk people at the concert Wednesday, for sure. About an hour before I got hurt, I had beer spilled on my foot by the guys in front of me.
Posted by: Bill Clay
We laughed as we realized he does look old enough to be his father now. Then I realized I’m old enough to be my father, too!
Heck, i’m older than my earliest memories of my grandfather…
If he played a full chronology of his songs old and new, then what were the new ones? His last album came out in 1993 — 15 years ago.
Well, he did do “River of Dreams”, which was his most recent single … 15 years ago.
I don’t recall if he did anything from his very first album (Cold Spring Harbor), but he certain did at least two songs from Piano Man — the title track and “The Ballad of Billy the Kid”.
TWL
Actually, we had blissfully little trouble getting out of Shea. What helped was that we arrived at the parking lot at 4 PM and parked right in front of the exit. Then we just took the subway into the city, hung out in Midtown for a while, had dinner there and then came back closer to show time.
In terms of navigating the crowd, the trick is to stick very close to the building itself. The vast majority of the crowd was jostling to get to the stairway to the 7 train. By staying as far inward as possible we managed to avoid most of the crush.
Shelly, that’s so depressing that that happened to you. Concert settings are rife for mishaps.
PAD
Shelly, I’m sorry to hear about your injuries. I hope your recovery is as swift as possible.
Tim Lynch: “Well, that’s frightening — it means we’re exactly the same age. Shìŧ, when did you turn 38?”
Not until Aug. 11, actually. I suppose I should have been more precise: it was *nearly* 28 years ago.
When did you turn 38?
Now I wish I was 38 *today*, because then I could’ve responded to Tim’s inquiry about when I turned 38 by saying, “A year after I turned 37.”
Timing is everything.
I am fairly certain I don’t need all of my toes and would have yielded at least half of them to be at that concert. Ðámņ it. You’re a lucky man, PAD.
Thanks, PAD and Bill. I have an appointment with an orthopedist on Friday, so we’ll see. Right now, it hurts and the arm has limited mobility. Just a reminder of how quickly things can change, for bad as well as good. I consider myself lucky that worse didn’t happen. At least I got my glasses fixed today. 🙂
Actually “River of Dreams” was not his most recent single, though it was his last big hit. From the same album, he subsequently released “All About Soul” and “Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)” which were minor hits. In 1997, he had two new singles off his GHVIII compilation which did not chart on the Top 40, and early last year he released “All My Life” which also did not chart on the Top 40.
For a second I read that as “Greatest Hits Vol. 8”, Jerry. I now realize that “VIII” was short for “Volume 3”, but yikes!
And “Lullabye” is an amazing song.
TWL
Shelly,
Glad to hear you’re on the mend. That’s really scary!
Bill,
Well, that’s frightening — it means we’re exactly the same age. Shìŧ, when did you turn 38?
Not until Aug. 11, actually. I suppose I should have been more precise: it was *nearly* 28 years ago.
Close enough. That puts me all of six months ahead of you — I turned 38 back on Feb. 7.
TWL
I have to think that ticket holders who went to the Wednesday night concert, which was minus Sir Paul, must have been spitting tacks.
Yes, we were. YOU TOOK OUR GUEST STARS! AND OUR “LAST PLAY” STATUS? Who wants to see the Penultimate Play at Shea? (If you saw both shows, you got to see a double play.)
On the other hand, we did have John Mayer, Don Henley, John Mellencamp, and Tony Bennett too. So we can’t bìŧçh too much.
We had Tony Bennett too.
PAD