Dear people who felt it was more important to not wait in traffic than to hear the encore pieces at the Billy Joel concert tonight,You are ridiculous. You missed "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," "Only the Good Die Young," and "Piano Man." Of course. And they were amazing, and I didn't wait in any traffic at all. Silly, silly people.
Tonight's concert was unbelievable. I thought it was appropriate that Billy opened with "Angry Young Man," not only because it let us know right off that he still has the fingers for this stuff, but because the lyrics are somehow even more potent coming from an older artist. "I believed I'd passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage/ I'd found that just surviving was a noble fight. And I once believed in causes too - I had my pointless point of view/ Love went on no matter who was wrong or right . . . " He followed the first couple of songs with jokes about being old: "I'm Billy's dad. Billy couldn't come tonight, so I'm just here...warming up the stage..." He also made several references to his lack of hair (including a funny one later when he was singing "The Entertainer" - "Another serenader, and another long-haired band," and he ran his hand over his bald head.)
Lots of favorites, lots of surprises - for me the highlight of the night was probably "Vienna," but I also thoroughly enjoyed singing along with "We Didn't Start the Fire." I once spent a week learning all of the words to that song, and I felt funny about it until I found out that more than one of my brothers knows the whole thing as well, clear through from Harry Truman to rock and roller cola wars. Actually, I'm always a little bit amazed when I go to concerts of people I grew up with but haven't listened to lately - I still know all of the words to tons of his songs. The same thing happened at U2. Certain music just fits like an old shoe - you just slide right into it and it still fits; some of the lyrics just resonate a little differently than they used to.
I was a little sad that he didn't play "The Longest Time," (which, for the record, is one of my very favorite songs of all time) but there are so many of his songs that are favorites that I didn't expect to get them all. The light show was fun, the rotating piano surprising, the roadie's rendition of "Highway to Heaven" delightful. Billy was impressively rock and roll with a sideways baseball cap for "Big Shot" and with his microphone tricks on "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me." (He actually chucked the mic across the stage at the end of that song - it was exciting.) "Root Beer Rag" was also a special treat that I wasn't expecting. Remember when I used to be able to play that song? Well... I was a little ashamed that I ever pretended that I could after I saw him play it. Yikes.
Billy, you are still rock and roll to me. Don't take any . . . you know . . . from anyone.
