Last Night

Last night was the best concert I've been to. Ever. Ever ever ever. Words don't do it justice, but I'll start from the beginning.

I was too excited to be hungry. So I had a slice of pizza instead of an actual meal like the rest of my family did. Not that pizza isn't a meal, but most people would take a salad and a main dish over just a slice of pizza. I wanted to be there as early as I could be. Why? See the next paragraph.

So a good friend of mine, Nancy Dutremble, told me a story about what happened when she went to see Billy Joel a couple years ago. She went with her husband (Al), daughter (Jen), and her daughter's friend (Jenna). Jen and Jenna decided to go get an ice cream, and while they were doing so, a man went up to Jen and said, 'Billy Joel wants you to have these tickets. They're for the front row.' Jen gives him a look, and doesn't believe him. He said, 'You don't believe me? Follow me.' The man led Jen and Jenna to the front row, took their tickets, and told them to have a great time. And I know they did just that. So what does this have to do with me? Well, I knew about the ticket men. They're Billy's roadies. Billy holds the good seats until the day of the show, distributes the tickets amongst his roadies, and has them give them out to random fans (mainly women--most of them young). Unfortunately, I was there alone at the time. So I called my sister and told her to get here so I could get tickets. She comes, and not even five minutes later, a roadie (his name was Kevin, and he's the bass tech) came up and gave us two tickets to the "pod section" (two sections of 4 rows on either side of the stage. We were in the fourth row, but not for long. Continue reading). I was so excited, I gave Kevin a hug. I think he appreciated giving the tickets to such a fanatic like me. It means more. I wasn't the prettiest girl there, but I was probably the biggest 17-year-old Billy Joel fan he's ever seen.

I darted through the crowd to get to the escalator. As the usher brought me to my seat he said, 'Once he plays 'Movin' Out' you can go up to the stage.' So that made my fourth-row even better. Once I got there I felt a bit sad. See, my mother is a much bigger Billy Joel fan than my sister is. I wouldn't even say that my sister is a fan. She enjoys his music, but probably couldn't have named ten of his songs before last night. However, my mom could've named 20 out of 23 songs (I could name them all. I knew every word. But that's besides the point). So I felt bad that my mom wasn't down there with me (well, not right away anyway). I offered up my ticket, but she said no, and told me to have a great time down there. And I did. I still haven't hit the high point..points (there were so many).

The second the lights went down, I stood up. And as soon as 'Prelude/Angry Young Man' came on, I started bawling. When I don't know how to react, I cry. It's probably the greatest defense mechanism I have. I was so overjoyed/excited to be where I was, I didn't know what to do. So I cried. I didn't sit down at all. I didn't care about the people behind me. I was gonna stand up and sing my ass off all night long. On a side note: We were on the side of the guitarist (Dave Brown..amazing), so that was really cool. No one else around me (including my sister) stood up. Well, one lady two rows in front of me did, but she was sitting from time to time. During 'Allentown', my sister said she had to go to the bathroom or something, so I gave her my ticket and said, 'Here, go get Mom. She has to be down here.' As soon as the song ended ('Don't Ask Me Why' was next), my mom and sister returned and the night just got better. My mom is the best person to have at a concert. She loves them just as much as I do. So we dance and sing like fools, but no one cares..or notices.

The very next song he played was 'Movin' Out', so I grabbed my sign (my famous sign. Always says the same thing. I'll reveal it later), and ran over to the front. I was no more than eight feet from the man himself. Right up on the stage. It was amazing. I was so glad my mom got down there. It wouldn't have been nearly as much fun as it was.

Back to the sign. I don't remember when I opened it up, but I did, and Dave saw it and laughed. Billy saw it after the next song (which I can't remember what it was..Root Beer rag maybe). He looked at me, shrugged, and pointed towards Dave who didn't notice. It was still wicked cool. Billy became more friendly towards me as the night went on. I'll explain more further down the line.

Did I say I knew every word to every song? Well, I did. He didn't throw me any curve balls. Well, he didn't, but his roadie did. I had seen in past set-lists that Billy had been playing 'Highway to Hell', and that kind of took me by surprise. Well, Billy doesn't sing it, his roadie of 30 years does. His name is Chainsaw, and watching him sing was one of the funniest things I had seen in my entire life. Also, Dave soloed right in front of me which was wicked cool. We became buddies in a way haha. It's hard to describe. If he saw me again, he would recognize me. He played a lot in my direction (thanks to the sign). We saw him (Chainsaw, not Billy..God, had I met Billy Joel..)after the show and he gave us a bunch of guitar picks. He gave us more guitar picks than I had bought in the past year. Anyway. Chainsaw did his thing, and then Billy jumped right into his next song--which I want to say was 'It's Still Rock n Roll To Me,' and even if it wasn't (It may have been 'We Didn't Start The Fire), I need to talk about it.

The piano goes under the stage during 'Rock n Roll'. Billy tries to get all fancy with the microphone. It takes him a while, but he does get it going. So getting back to being friendly with me, the very last line of the song is 'It's still rock n roll to me!' And you can hear it on the record, the band screams it. So instead of the band screaming it, he comes right up to where I was standing and puts the microphone out in front of me (and the people next to me), and we scream into it, "IT'S STILL ROCK N ROLL TO ME!" It was amazing. He shakes a few hands, including mine, and gets back to work..if you want to call it that.

He talks a lot. He has a lot of banter, which I love. He thanks the audience for showing up, talks about his "special effects" (his piano rotates from time to time so one side of the audience doesn't always get head--"which in theory is a good thing," says Billy). He gave some background to his songs, had great energy with his band (and his audience). He loves what he does. How can he not? He said it himself, 'If you can get this job, take it.' I couldn't agree with him more.

Alright, so at some point towards the end of the show, Billy walks over to where I am and slams his foot down in front of me. I look up, and he's pointing at his left shoe. He had me tie his shoe!!!! I tied Billy Joel's shoe! After I did it, he looked at me again and gave me a smile and I think a handshake. Either way, direct eye-contact with your hero is pretty fucking awesome. And I don't swear that much.

His set-list was nearly perfect. There were a few songs I would have loved to have heard ('Big Shot', 'I Go To Extremes', 'Goodnight Saigon', and 'A Matter Of Trust' would've made the night even that much better). It was still a phenomenal show. But wait! There's more! So towards the end of the show, the band shakes hands, and Billy does again as well. So Dave's shaking hands. You know, just the usual brief touch. He comes up to me and gives me a big man-shake as I call it. I also got one of his guitar picks, and it was actually one he used! That was really cool. When Billy Joel comes by, he stomps all over my sign which I had lying face up. He smiled at me and laughed. That was even cooler. What did the sign say? It said (as do all my signs..in all caps): Hey Billy Can I Play Guitar With You? I didn't get to play guitar with him, but I did shake his hand three times, get three of his guitar picks, tie his shoe, and make tons of eye-contact with him. He also sweat on me a little bit. All in all, it was an absolutely amazing night. The only better night was when I met Bruce Springsteen. And part of that is only because I wasn't anticipating meeting Bruce. I had a feeling I would get down front. I was too excited for the crew not to see me. I even wore makeup!

So yeah, that's my Billy Joel experience. It was the best concert I've ever been to. As much as I love John Mayer, he ain't Billy Joel. Bruce and Billy are equal in different ways in book. His (Billy's) songwriting is so incredible. I consider every song I write to be a bad Billy Joel song hahah! I try to mimic him, but I'm not that good...Yet.