Last weekend I traveled to Nashville, TN, to see two rock legends, Elton John and Billy Joel, in their Face 2 Face tour. While I kept all my Twitter and Facebook friends updated on a nearly minute-by-minute basis before, during, and after the concert, it dawned on me that I had not posted a follow-up on my blog for those who are not connected to me there.
The concert was scheduled to begin at 7:30, so naturally I arrived around 6:30 to find my seat. Before going into the stadium, I walked down Broadway and found a hotdog vendor. For $3 I had one of the best brat dogs I’ve tasted in a long time. After eating, I went into the stadium to find that pesky seat.
I had a great location just 8 rows up from the main floor almost directly behind the sound booth. While other seats filled up all around me, my entire row remained empty until well into the concert. That meant, of course, I would be bobbing up and down several times during the concert to let these late comers in. But it was a small price to pay to sit on the aisle and be able to stretch my legs whenever I wanted.
The concert was everything I had hoped for and more. It was nearly 4 hours of non-stop ballads and rockers. There was nearly an hour of both men on stage. They began with just the two pianos rising from underneath the stage. Their first song was Yellow Brick Road. As the songs progressed, more and more band members came onto the stage. At one point the lights went out for about 30 seconds. When they came back up again, Billy Joel’s piano had disappeared and Elton was left on stage to do another hour by himself. One hit after another rolled off the stage. For all his early days of flamboyant stage craft, Elton still knows how to put on a show.
When we hit the 2 hour mark, the stage shifted again. Elton’s piano was gone and Billy was back on stage. Dressed in a suit and tie, Billy Joel was very business like. He cranked out one fantastic song after another. At one point he got up and played guitar. At another he was throwing and twirling his microphone stand around like a heavy metal rock god. After putting the crowd into a tizzy, the lights went black and Elton was back on stage in a matter of seconds.
The last hour saw the two of them crank out some of the biggest rock numbers of the night. Both Elton’s and Billy’s bands were on stage at the same time. Both men were improvising piano riffs like crazy. Songs that played for 4 or 5 minutes on the radio now took 10 or 12.
Like the end of a good cardio, the songs started to slow down a bit and band members began to leave the stage. At the end, it was just the two of them again. Their final song was Piano Man. It was like they had planned the night just for me. The two songs I really wanted to hear were played first and last.
The only song I missed that I really wanted to hear was Joel’s, “She’s Got a Way About Her.” It is one of his best love ballads. I can’t really complain though. With these two guys, they could have played for 4 days and something would have still been missing.
I took some pictures and put them to music. I hope you enjoy them.