| Annointed Zephyr Wind |
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| The Awesome Billy Joel Concert |
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| Thought I'd pass on my reflections of the Billy Joel concert I went to last night. It was awesome! First of all, I do have to say a BIG "Thank You" to Gene Keenum, my bud and pal who was kind enough to offer me such a great Christmas present. Thank you, Thank you, thank you! [Though he tells me he was looking for a good excuse to go to the concert, and I gave it to him. Nice to know I can still offer such good excuses to my friends. :-)] The Concert was held in the new multi-purpose entertainment arena here in Raleigh, NC near the NC State Fair Grounds. The building in quite impressive, and is both functional and beautiful. Both Gene and I were impressed w/ the acoustics in the building. (High praise from Gene.) There was no nasty reverberation, and once the sound guys evened out the mics. on the drums, the show sounded like listening to a re-mastered, live Billy Joel CD. Very good indeed. Our seats, though supposedly in a bad sections, were really rather good. We were at the top of the first teer of seats behind the stage at stage right. We had a real close view of Billy Joel's face for most of the evening, and he made a point of playing at several different pianos around the stage so that all of us in the back could get up close and personal w/him. |
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| The lighting was good. I counted twelve lighting folks climbing the rigging before the concert, and there were at least two or three more working the lights on the ground. It was rather entertaining to watch Billy react and play w/ the lighting rigs that were on the stage. They moved around a lot, and looked like some kind of weapon. He would respond in kind, and make all sorts of interesting faces. :-) The band was good. He has a sax player, base player, guitar player, percussionist, drummer, keyboardist, and three vocalist. He also has a "rudimentary" drummer come on stage for one or two songs. They obviously enjoyed what they were doing, and looked like they were having more fun up there on stage than we were in the stands. Which is the way it should be. Billy performed songs from all of his albums. Quite good stuff. Everything from the "Piano Man" to "2000 Years" (Good song, if you haven't heard it, I'd suggest you buy the album for that song in and of itself). He also played a few covers of James Taylor, Elvis, Led Zeplin and the Who (I believe. Gene wrote the names of the songs down, so, I'll have to verify w/ him.) And during the entire set, they'd sing the first verse of various Christmas hymns. The whole thing was very entertaining, especially the occasional stories that Billy told about the songs and his life. Good Stuff! |
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| The crowd was great! Lots of people from every age group you could imagine. Gene and I probably were right in the middle of the age range, and, truth be told, it's the first concert I've gone to in a while were I felt I was a member of the younger generation. Everybody really got into the concert, though, and the crowd sang along w/ every song. Well almost. I think it is impossible for anyone to sing along w/ "We Didn't Start the Fire" the words are to complex, and the beat is too fast, but that didn't stop a lot of us from trying. :-) As usual, the "working man's" poet (as I like to refer to him) did a phenomenal job. I've always loved that man's since of history and time. he is so able to capture the moment of a people and put them to words and music. It is a rare talent, and one that is wonderful to see live. His renditions of "River of Life" , "Allentown", and assundry other songs helped me to remember why I enjoy his music so much. Gene commented that he didn't realize how much I liked Billy Joel until last month when I mentioned my disappointment at not being able to go to the concert (the impetus to buy the tickets it turns out). He knew I liked Sting (love would be more appropriate), but he didn't know of my passion for Billy Joel. Truth is they both touch places in my soul. Both are extraordinary poets who write of both spiritual and cerebral things. Sting touches my spiritual/artist side. Billy feeds my working class/middle class soul. He helps to meet my sense of history. Different men, different music, complementary affects on my psyche and spirit. All told the concert lasted 2 1/2 hours. It started at 8:15 pm and finished at 10:30 w/ a 15 min encore. His last song of the evening was Piano Man, and the crowd finished it off for him. Quite Awesome. We all left w/ full hearts, deaf ears, sore throats, and wonderful memories to carry into the new Millennium. Would I go again? In a heartbeat. I'd even try and find a way to scrounge up the $50/ticket to go. The only bad thing about the whole evening was the high prices of the concert memorabilia. Least expensive item, Key Chain: $8.00. Most expensive Item, a poster: $130. Cash only, please. I could stomach the prices, the "Cash Only" got to me. I brought my card, and had to borrow cash from Gene to get a few promised trinkets for friends and family. Major bummer. Especially since that very effectively limited my budget. Awe well, such is life. Next time I'll know better. I just hate carrying a lot of cash around. I simply don't feel comfortable doing it. All in all, it was a great experience. I had a good time, and my ears are still ringing just a little bit. A truly good sign of a good concert. :-) Thanks again, Gene. We'll have to do this again sometime. :-) |
| Dec. 22, 1999 By Mellinda "Mel" G. Hansen |
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