We’re So Cool, We Took The Kids to See Billy Joel

On Thursday evening we went to see Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden. We took the kids. This was their first ever concert experience, unless you count the Wiggles when they were 3… which for this exercise we shan’t. They almost count, being The Cockroaches but that’s a very long time ago…. ANYWAY!

For the last few weeks we’ve been playing Billy Joel music in the house and reminding them we’re going etc and generally getting them excited for an experience they’ve never had and therefore probably have a difficult time even imagining.

The day came and we went out to dinner early, like retirement home early… We literally had the early bird special at Shun Lee. No celebrity sightings this time. (No self respecting celeb would be eating dinner at 5:30, a late lunch, maybe).

After dinner we strolled down to 34th St where Madison Square Garden takes up an entire city block, large semi trucks were parked out front and my old rock and roll heart skipped a beat. It’s been a few years since I’ve attended any concerts but the feeling never leaves you.
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We headed in and the kids were Β in awe! We had awesome seats behind the stage, yes, behind and honestly they were probably the best in the house. They weren’t front row but you have to stand all the time in front row and then the mosh pit takes over. These seats were raised and we could see all the action and Billy’s piano revolved so nothing was missed at all. Not to mention the screens were also used.

We watched as people filed in and right on 8 the lights dimmed and the support came on. Who should it be but Gavin DeGraw, one of our muso friends. We’d heard he was doing support but didn’t actually consider that he would be doing this run.. ( damn could’ve saved a 1000 bucks!) We settled in to watch and enjoyed the kid’s reaction. Of course the support is never quite as loud as the main act but the music was thumping and Miss Gremlin was shocked that she could feel it in her chest… We laughed. Yeah baby, that’s what it’s ALL about.
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While the road crew changed the stage we got to see the lighting guys go up in their rigs. The kids were fascinated by this. Miss Gremlin however decided this would not be a good job for her…. fear of heights and all that. But just watching was exciting enough.IMG_1221

Then at 9 o’clock, the lights went down and the main man himself came out.

Miami 2017

New York State Of Mind

He played for over 2 hours, and did a 4 song encore!

Such an excellent show, he was funny, thanked us all for coming out, telling us he had nothing new, just the same old shit πŸ™‚ Hilarious.

We loved every second of it.

Here’s what he played:
Miami 2017
My Life
The Entertainer
Summer Highland Falls
For the Longest time
An Innocent Man
Big Man on Mulberry St
Allentown
New York State of Mind

Then he brought out a special guest, the piano player from the Young Rascals, Felix Cavaliere, if you watch this video you can see us in the crowd! You can see the Princess dancing in the coral dress and catch glimpses of the kids beside her. We are one row in front sitting to the left of her on the end of the row! I bounce the green balloon away at the end of the clip. FUNNY!

He continued on with:

Downeaster Alexa
Sometimes a fantasy
Moving Out
Keeping the Faith
She’s Always a Woman
Don’t Ask Me Why
Then his roadie, Chainsaw came out and did Highway to Hell πŸ™‚

We Didn’t Start the Fire
River of Dreams (that was the last tour we saw him, in Melbourne)
Scenes from An Italian Restaurant
Piano Man

Encore

Uptown Girl
Still Rock and Roll to Me
You May Be Right

and finally

Only The Good Die Young…

Awesome show, worth every cent, best time ever!

When we left the kids were deaf, which we told them just meant they’d had fun…

Comments 5

  1. The man puts on one hell of a show!! We also took our girls to see him at Hershey Park Arena where he proceeded to just blow us all away. I’ve seen him several times in the past but it was really special to bring my own kids to see him, because they love him almost as much as we do. One thing I’d LOVE to do is see him at MSG!

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  2. Oh man, you went!!! On Saturday night Kevin regaled me once again with all the reasons why he hates Billy Joel. πŸ™ He’s being a pud. lol I’ll bet it was amazing. I haven’t seen him in years, but he was fantastic. I would completely embarrass myself and others during “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant”. πŸ˜‰ omg – Don’t Ask Me Why, Summer Highland Falls, The Entertainer…wowza. Great, great stuff!

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