I saw Billy Joel and Elton John 6 years ago (6 years, 15 days to be exact, but I only remember the date because it was my 30th birthday) but I've never been one to eschew a live show just because I've seen it before. Besides, well, it's Billy Joel and Sir Elton John. What more reason would I need? An audible tour of the library of either artist takes me through my entire childhood; from birth through high school, they were there every step of the way. Whether I was reading Dr. Seuss, playing at my Grandma's house during summer vacation, getting ready for junior high dances, or dragging Main Street in my beat up old Chevette, Billy and Elton were always part of the soundtrack of my life. Traveling the hundred miles to Tulsa to see the Face 2 Face show was a no-brainer.
Our seats were behind the stage towards the top, but the stage was visible from all angles. Given that, we actually got better seats than the people on the opposite side of the arena. Billy addressed us early in the show, "Those seats aren't as bad as you thought they were going to be, are they?" He thanked the people across the stadium from us, "you people all the way up in Wichita," for paying money for those seats. He then pointed out to those who thought they had the best seats in the house that they need only look up at the mass of steel and lighting equipment suspended above their heads by a few thin cables, to realize that things are not always as they seem. "But enjoy the show!" he quipped to them with sadistic delight.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. The show began with the stage opening and two pianos rising up from underneath. The lights went out and the men took their places on the stage to thunderous cheers from the audience. They began with duets on Elton's "Your Song" and Billy's "Just the Way You Are" before they brought their bands out. The duets continued with an amazing purple and orange light show on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and they picked up the pace a bit with "My Life" before Billy left the stage to Elton.
It was about this time that I began to wish I had brought something with me on which to record the set list because I knew I would never remember all the songs they performed. I was lucky enough to find a set list from a previous show and I modified it slightly to remove songs I'm sure we didn't hear and add songs I remember them playing. Elton and his band treated us to Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, Burn Down the Mission, Madman Across the Water, Tiny Dancer, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Daniel, Rocket Man, Levon, I'm Still Standing, and Crocodile Rock. Then it was Billy's turn to perform with his band: Angry Young Man, Movin' Out (Anthony's Song), Allentown, Zanzibar, She's Always a Woman, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Don't Ask Me Why, River of Dreams, We Didn't Start the Fire, It's Still Rock 'N Roll to Me, and Only the Good Die Young.
After their individual performances were finished, they both returned to the stage for more duets on I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues, Uptown Girl, The Bitch is Back, You May Be Right, and Bennie and the Jets before treating us to two classics from the Beatles, Birthday and Back in the USSR. For the final two numbers it was just Billy, Elton, two pianos, and a wholly enthralled audience. They sang together on each other's signature songs, Candle in the Wind and Piano Man. On what would normally be the final chorus of Piano Man, they stopped playing and singing and let the audience take over in what became the last of my many goose bump moments of the night. Twenty thousand people in unison asked the piano men on stage to sing us a song. We were in the mood for a melody and feelin' alright, so they obliged us with one more round of the chorus. It will take a lot to dethrone that moment as my favorite concert memory.
One might think that two men in their early sixties (okay technically Billy won't be sixty until May) might not have as much power to their vocals as they did when they were in their younger years, but one would also be wrong. They were both as energetic and extraordinary as they always have been. While many live shows don't have the instrumental backup we hear in studio cuts, these two didn't skimp on the musical accessories. They featured synthesizers, saxophones, harmonicas, trumpets, trombones, clarinets, oboes, guitars, and every percussion instrument imaginable including two full drum kits.
Elton's solo performance was a steady stream of music. He didn't spend a lot of time talking in between songs and he kept his spot at the piano throughout most of the show. In contrast, Billy interacted with the audience often, cracking jokes and sending ripples of laughter through the stadium. After the piano platform made a slow rotation during "Zanzibar" he informed us that those were all the special effects his show had. "The piano goes this way, the piano goes that way. None of that high falutin' Britney Spears stuff." He left the piano to play guitar during "We Didn't Start the Fire" and he tossed the microphone stand around like a baton during much of "It's Still Rock 'N Roll to Me."
I would be remiss if I didn't mention a few of the concert randoms, those moments no one expected. Being that it was Saint Patrick's Day, Billy affected an Irish accent and greeted us with a boisterous "Top o' the evenin' to ya, Tulsa!" Continuing the accent, he went on to tell us that he was Billy's father Shamus Joel filling in for Billy, a comical acknowledgment that he knows he has a lot less hair and a lot more wrinkles than the Billy we grew up with. Time marches on for all of us, Billy.
We were treated to another concert random during "Uptown Girl" when an enthusiastic audience member who apparently fancied herself as an uptown girl jumped onto the stage and began dancing around. She seemed to have a particular affinity for Billy and spent most of her time dancing around him. Towards the end of the song she sat down next to him and smooched him on the cheek. Mindful of equal time, she proceeded to Elton's side of the stage and threw her arms around him, giving him a kiss as well before she returned to the audience. Directly after the song was over, another audience member hoisted himself onto the stage and used Elton's microphone to propose to his girlfriend.
She said yes.
I wanted the night to go on forever, but after more than three and a half hours of some of the best music of the 20th century, our performers said goodnight and the lights came up in the stadium. As we sat outside on a breezy but beautiful night, waiting for the traffic to thin before heading to the car, we relived some of the best moments of the night. We agreed that even with as many songs as we heard at the show it was merely the tip of the song catalog iceberg. Still on a music high but thoroughly exhausted, we made our way back to the hotel. As I drifted off to sleep, Billy serenaded me with a chip on that iceberg, "While the Night is Still Young" and I danced all night in my dreams.
Bravo!