| Well.... |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|03:47 pm] |
Yeah, some of you probably won't believe me, but I have to say it anyway.
Billy Joel rocked harder than anything. Ever.
He made Siouxsie, who should be the same age or slightly younger, seem ready for the nursing home. He sang for about 2:15 straight, the only break being when he played guitar (a Hamer Honeyburst SATF, like my main guitar) while he let his guitar tech "Chainsaw" sing Highway to Hell as well as any AC/DC cover band I could imagine. He doesn't bounce around as much as Peter Murphy, except on "Still Rock'n'Roll to Me," which is the only song where his guitar, piano, or piano and harmonica wasn't preventing him.
Every song was something I knew by heart...the ones I knew least were "In the Middle of the Night," and "We Didn't Start the Fire."
You may think I am biased because I have listened to him for over 30 years (yes, I was a small child rocking out to my bro's 8-tracks) but I expected to see one of the greatest songwriters of the last century, beaten by his age, needing extensive offstage breaks, etc. But he needed no such breaks, everything was performed with extreme energy and emotion, and he even still ahs the technical prowress to manage "Root Beer Rag" on the piano at full tempo without a stumble.
No wonder he sold out 10 consecutive arena shows.
( More detailed account, for my own recollection, under cut ) |
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