Piano Man

It occurred to me today that I have neglected to post about some pretty momentous events lately, so today I'll play catch-up. It's a good way to help me avoid all the cleaning and paper-writing I'm supposed to be doing, so I might as well. :-)

First - the Billy Joel concert. I mentioned in an earlier post that I didn't think I would be able to go. My husband was planning to be in Georgia on the day Billy was in Seattle. We've been trying for nine years to see him in concert (we once considered flying to St. Louis), so that was quite disturbing. Because we are completely insane when it comes to good music, we ended up buying concert tickets and a one-way ticket back to Washington. Was it worth it, you ask??? OH, YEAH!

He's a little grayer, a little balder, and a little more plump . . . . but he sings like a 30-year-old man on his best night. It was incredible. He did every song that I wanted to hear live, including Downeaster Alexa, which is probably my favorite and I never expected him to do. He dedicated it to the crab fishermen in our area (have you seen Deadliest Catch?). Toward the middle of the show, his piano disappeared and he got out a guitar and did Purple Haze!!! He said while he was in Seattle he had to do some Jimi. He also had his guitar roadie come out and do Highway to Hell, which is certainly not what you expect to hear at a Billy Joel concert, but it was the only thing that got this, um, slightly-older-than-me crowd on its feet. His first encore was Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, which is practically an entire rock opera in one song, and he closed out the night with Piano Man, of course.

Did I mention that his piano rotated? Every couple of songs, the whole thing would start spinning so that he faced each side of the arena several times throughout the night. All in all, it was a phenomenal evening, and worth all the waiting! :-)