Sunday, October 05, 2014

The Piano Man Put Us In A New York State Of Mind

"Friday night I crashed your party, Saturday I said I'm sorry, Sunday came and trashed me out again..."

We crashed a party Friday night.  A cool party.  Well, maybe crash isn't exactly the right way to put it.

We went into the city on Friday afternoon just for something to do.  We took the train into Penn Station, got up to street level to walk around a bit, grabbed a slice of pizza, and then spent three hours in B & H Photo.  The have absolutely everything camera and video related.  We left there without spending a dime, although I'm not sure how that happened, and strolled a little while trying to decide what else we should do.  That's when we saw some guys holding signs for parking at Madison Square Garden and wondered what event was going on there.


Turns out, Billy Joel was playing - information I did come across when I was researching stuff to do, but forgot - and Ed immediately checked online for tickets.  Ticketmaster showed that since it was so close to showtime, tickets were no longer being sold, so we decided to go directly to the source. Maybe they had some left at the box office.

Aaaannnd, they did.  We were going to see Billy Joel!
We arrived early, about 7:00.  The opening act started at 8:00 and Billy was expected to play from 9:00 to 11:00.  The place was empty and we had gotten really good seats. Here's Ed in our seats, stage right in the background.
I haven't been to Madison Square Garden in almost thirty years!  The last concert I saw there was Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet tour.  Things.  Have.  Changed.  The place is beautiful.  New, bright, shops and food vendors.  Of course, I don't really remember what it looked like before - I was only interested in seeing Jon Bon Jovi.
I have been a fan of Billy Joel since I was ten years old.  That was the year The Stranger came out.   It was awesome to finally see him in concert.  He opened the show with "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)".  I LOVE that song.  
Here's The Garden midway through the concert at a very bright stage light moment.  Look at the people!
It was a full house.  This is the stage area.  Between the zoom on my camera, the location of our seats, and the big screen TVs, I felt like I was right next to Billy. 
The energy in the room was high.  People standing, clapping, hooting and hollering.  Singing along.  Every song, every word.
This year, Billy Joel was "established as the 4th franchise at Madison Square Garden, joining the Knicks, Rangers, and Liberty as a resident in the World's Most Famous Arena".  He's been there all year, playing sold out shows.  There are still tickets left for the December show if you're interested.
Here are two panoramas of The Garden - the first one before the crowd got there and the second one at the height of the show.  Click on the photos to enlarge.



"Well we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feeling alright."
~ Piano Man



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2 comments:

Decorina said...

OMD, I love Billy Joel. You are so lucky to get to see him.

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