Billy Joel

September 2016 

Many moons ago I was sitting at work when an email came across my desk with the prospect of attending an event that I had hoped and wished for, but had long-since given up on. The dream that Billy Joel would tour once more to a city I was in. I broke the news to Mike in a flurry of messages and very ‘subtly’ 'hinted' that this would make an excellent birthday present. Thanks to Mike, the dream came true and nearly ten months later we found ourselves in the hallowed grounds of Wembley Stadium.

Getting there wasn't so easy. As it were, we were in Turkey the week of, celebrating Joelyne’s 30th aboard a boat. When the boat docked near Demre and the party continued in Olympus, we instead set off at 10:30am taking two buses, a plane, a train, and two more buses home to London. We arrived back at the flat the day of the auspicious concert at the respectable time of 4:00am. We tried to slip in but inevitably woke our floor-dwellers, Stacey and Blair in the process. They very graciously took off for the day while we slept till 10:00am. 

Fairly refreshed, we set off to Wembley Stadium which was only a hop, skip and a jump away. In 2008 I had the pleasure of seeing Billy Joel perform in Auckland with Mum, Dad, Gary and Erin. He introduced himself as his own Father. And that was 8 years ago! I was buzzing. A little sleep-deprived, but completely amped. Mike was more reserved and admitted to not being the biggest of Billy Joel fans, but I knew how spectacular he was live and that Mike would soon be a convert and I'd be preaching to the choir.

Anxious. Sleep deprived. Crazy.

Neither of us had ever visited Wembley Stadium, but it been the stage for my all-time-favourite shows on dvd – Queen, Live at Wembley Stadium.

We settled into our sideline seats and waited in anticipation. Who needs a supporting act? Not Billy. At 8:00pm, Mr Joel took the stage and the magic began. The sound was a little fine-tuned after the second song and we were golden.

Ever The Entertainer, Billy regaled us with impressions of Joe Cocker and Elton John. Much to my delight he played ‘Rule Britannia’! Much to Mike’s he performed ‘Rock n Roll’ by Led Zeppelin and ‘A Hard Days’ Night’ by The Beatles. After all these years his piano playing is still second to none.

The evening rocked along with Billy spent his time shooting the breeze, cracking jokes and playing hit after hit. Things were going so well. Until he started letting the audience participate and choose the set list with “fielder’s choice” moments. No. No, no, no. Oh god no. A choice of two songs; let the audience decide with the loudest cheer. You can't leave these critical decisions to chance like that! It was like Sophie's Choice. I was nervous and rightly so.



One of my favourite songs is, perhaps, a little known ballad called ‘And So It Goes’. I had so hoped that he would play it at that show in New Zealand. He didn't, and I consoled myself with the fact that although wonderful, it wasn't really a stadium song; too special and too intimate. 

Billy was about to announce the next song choice and provided some context: which album each song came from, which year, whether or not it was a single. Then onto the names; would the audience like to hear ‘Leningrad’? Queue loud, long, raucous cheering – the reaction that song rightly deserved. It's a bloody good song. Or the second song? ‘And So It Goes’. My heart skipped a beat. Five beats. Ten. I was teetering on the edge of an opportunity that I had daren’t dream of.

I screamed like my life depended on it. I screamed with every iota of my being. I screamed like I was being murdered. Everyone in our vicinity turned to stare. But it simply wasn't enough. A little bit of my heart broke and I could have cried, were it for the sweet chords of ‘Leningrad’ that had just started filling the stadium. Such a good song!

‘Piano Man’ was fantastic and ‘Scenes From An Italian Restaurant’ was outstanding. The evening culminated in a encore of hits including ‘Uptown Girl’, ‘Its Still Rock and Roll To Me’ and ‘Only The Good Die Young’ that had the audience on its feet (and in my case, dancing like a maniac). If you ever get the chance to see this legend I cannot recommend it highly enough. Mike loved it too. Amen.