Our son and daughter (OK, daughter in law, but we don’t think of her that way) gave us tickets to see Billy Joel in concert at Madison Square Garden. Last night was the night.
It was Mr. Joel’s 41st consecutive sellout of The Garden – a feat that is unheard of in my memory. Something like 20,000 wildly enthusiastic fans were in attendance.
And what a show we got.
Billy Joel will be 68 years old in May. He has done nothing at all to hide his age; he looks like he’s as old as he is. In other words, he isn’t playing let’s-pretend with a wig that gives his obviously older face a ridiculous looking young man’s hair – like Tony Bennett and Paul McCartney and John Kerry, for example.
Mr. Joel’s singing quality has dropped somewhat (I’d put it at about 85% – 90% of where it was in his prime). But his piano playing is at or near 100%. And, truth is, I would rather hear him play piano than sing anyway – not because he isn’t an excellent singer, but because his piano playing is even better. Special thanks to you, Billy, for tossing in the Gershwin at the start of two of your songs. Who else would do that?
Billy Joel’s band – at least last night (I don’t know if they permanently work with him) was nothing short of spectacular. The sheer amount of talent on that stage was amazing.
My personal favorites (I hope I’m getting these names right) were Paul Fisher on trumpet – I think he played flugelhorn on “Zanzibar” as well – and Crystal Taliefero, who excels at singing, and saxophone, and hand-drums (no drumsticks for her), and who knows what else. But that is in no way meant to understate the quality of every other musician there. I’d name them all if I could.
Then there were the songs.
I didn’t count. But in a little over 2 hours, Mr. Joel, whom I consider a great musical genius, did maybe 15 to 18 of them. He also played guitar, and harmonica (a must for his iconic “Piano Man”).
As we heard them, one after the next, we started to realize just how much recognizable, pleasurable, meaningful music Billy Joel has produced over his 50 year career.
Oh, did I mention that as a special, unannounced guest, John Mellencamp came out, sang, and brought the house down – with two members of the original Little Rascals joining in to sing “Good Lovin'” as well?
What a great day in New York (I won’t bore you with the details, but we had a tremendous time even before the concert)! What a show!
To our son and daughter in law: countless thanks for this night. We love you.
