Billy Joel

Newch91

EdsonNascimento wrote:

Newch91 wrote:

Any Billy Joel fans here? I was a big fan when I was 10, 11 years old, took a break from listening, and have been listening to him a lot lately after watching his documentary, "Last Play at Shea", and listening to my dad's vinyl of the albums he has of his.

Huge fan. Growing up on LI, there's really no choice. My first show ever was him at the Coliseum in '86. I've since seen him a number of times including Last Play at Shea (night 1 which was supposed to be the actual last play, but let's play 2!!! - Not complaining). He puts on a great show and his entire catalog is incredible. However, I tend to side with his lesser known stuff - Laura, All For Leyna, Root Beer Rag.

He's definitely been through a few phases, but I find his unhappier times are actually his better albums (Glass Houses, Nylon Curtain, etc.), but still love Innocent Man, etc.

He also gave hope to all us average (?) looking LI boys when he dated Elle and married Christie.

And of course, My Life was the song I'd sing to my parents whenever they'd punish me as a little kid. :oops:

A did you know? His original stage name in the early 70s was Bill Martin (his middle name). :shock:

I just watched "Last Play at Shea" this weekend and now my dad is in the hunt for the CD of the show. Was night 1 with Paul McCartney or night 2?

I'm sure he gave up hope to a lot average looking boys across the country when he married Christie.

pjhawks

saw Billy a few times in the mid to late 80s at the Spectrum. great fucking shows. so many great songs. and love Summer in Highland Falls. Not enough piano in rock anymore.

Mamasan23

Whoa, yes!!! The Stranger and Glass Houses...my solid go-tos when I'm in drinking beast mode

Save Me

I'm glad someone started this thread. I'm a diehard Billy fan. He's my #1 favorite artist w/PJ 2nd. His music was the soundtrack of my early life. I'm also a singer/songwriter so I appreciate his writing which is on another level.

I love his deeper album cuts like Zanzibar (from 52nd Street), And So It Goes & Downeaster Alexa (Storm Front), Shades Of Grey (River Of Dreams) and the list goes on. I believe his non hits really show what kind of an artist he is. He could write in any style of music from jazz to country to doo-op to straight out rock. I've been to over 30 shows including the 1st ever concert at Yankee stadium in 1990. Went to 15 shows in 5 different states for his 2006 tour which was amazing because he was mixing up the set lists a ton. Doing a lot of album tracks like All For Leyna, Stilleto, Zanzibar and more. He even opened the 1st show in Sunrise w/Piano Man and closed it w/Famous Last Words. The crowd was stunned. I was in heaven. I think my favorite album is The Nylon Curtain. It's his darkest album and was recorded at the time Lennon was killed. There's a HUGE Beatles influence on the album (Scandanavian Skies, Suprises).

It saddens me that he hasn't written anything since River as an artist like that just has so much to say. I'd love to be hearing his thoughts on the world today and his life through his music but he just stopped. I think a ton of stuff in his personal life took a toll on him and I also think he got tired writing stuff that was so personal about him and his life.

I was lucky enough to go backstage at a Philly show in 2006 and also appeared in a documentary about his record breaking 12 sold out shows at Madison Square Garden in 2006. If anyone's interested the MSG doc is below. I'm "Billy Joel Fan-Paul Maged" on the doc. I appear somewhere after 2 minutes. It's a really good little doc on those amazing shows plus I added a couple of pics from that tour in 2006. He's an exceptional live artist. The voice, the musicianship, just awesome. And his band's always tight. Though I do miss Liberty on the kit.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1LxOmdEbdE

EdsonNascimento

Newch91 wrote:

EdsonNascimento wrote:

I just watched "Last Play at Shea" this weekend and now my dad is in the hunt for the CD of the show. Was night 1 with Paul McCartney or night 2?

I'm sure he gave up hope to a lot average looking boys across the country when he married Christie.

Nope. Mellencamp (who was crap - I hate him, but yet he got bigger ovations than the others) and Mayer (who just played guitar, which was awesome) and Don Henley (another stellar performance on Boys of Summer), Tony Bennett (who was meh). He did play Please Please Me in a tip to the Beatles.

The REAL Last Play (night 2) got Paul (which I understand, but is sort of crappy the way it went down, but oh, well - and like he couldn't do BOTH nights instead of us getting John Cougar Mellenball?!?), Steven Tyler and Roger Daltrey (they also got Tony Bennett).

I have a mediocre boot of night 1. Got it cheap, and just wanted it for posterity. Don't really listen to it much b/c the quality is so-so.

Dr. Delight

Ridiculous catalog of great songs. One of the first songs I used to sing as a child was "My Life"
I own the majority of his records on vinyl.
Was at the Wachovia Center Show back in 2000(i think) in Philly when the raised the banner for recognition for the amount of sellout shows he's played in Philly.

Dr. Delight

curly wrote:

Due ly noted...
The Stranger...

I'm hoping since i noted how much i loved the earlier stuff... The Stranger will suite me best...

Lookin' to buy my first record player this summer since the 80's...

I'll try and pick up the Stranger...

thanks for the tip...

pm me your address

traveljunkie

My interest in Billy Joel was also reignited after watching "Last Play at Shea"!

One of my earliest music obsessed memories is me begging my parents to let me stay up every night for the "Top Five at 9" on the radio to hear It's Still Rock & Roll To Me. And since it was always at the #1 spot, I got to stay up super late. I was so desperate to record it - but the DJ always wanted to talk over it!

Black Diamond

Love love love...

Seen him 10-12 times over the years... I guess starting with Glass Houses...

Had them all on vinyl back in the day...
I think my dad had 4 8 tracks of the stranger but kept wearing them out...

riotgrl

Save Me wrote:

I'm glad someone started this thread. I'm a diehard Billy fan. He's my #1 favorite artist w/PJ 2nd. His music was the soundtrack of my early life. I'm also a singer/songwriter so I appreciate his writing which is on another level.

I love his deeper album cuts like Zanzibar (from 52nd Street), And So It Goes & Downeaster Alexa (Storm Front), Shades Of Grey (River Of Dreams) and the list goes on. I believe his non hits really show what kind of an artist he is. He could write in any style of music from jazz to country to doo-op to straight out rock. I've been to over 30 shows including the 1st ever concert at Yankee stadium in 1990. Went to 15 shows in 5 different states for his 2006 tour which was amazing because he was mixing up the set lists a ton. Doing a lot of album tracks like All For Leyna, Stilleto, Zanzibar and more. He even opened the 1st show in Sunrise w/Piano Man and closed it w/Famous Last Words. The crowd was stunned. I was in heaven. I think my favorite album is The Nylon Curtain. It's his darkest album and was recorded at the time Lennon was killed. There's a HUGE Beatles influence on the album (Scandanavian Skies, Suprises).

It saddens me that he hasn't written anything since River as an artist like that just has so much to say. I'd love to be hearing his thoughts on the world today and his life through his music but he just stopped. I think a ton of stuff in his personal life took a toll on him and I also think he got tired writing stuff that was so personal about him and his life.

I was lucky enough to go backstage at a Philly show in 2006 and also appeared in a documentary about his record breaking 12 sold out shows at Madison Square Garden in 2006. If anyone's interested the MSG doc is below. I'm "Billy Joel Fan-Paul Maged" on the doc. I appear somewhere after 2 minutes. It's a really good little doc on those amazing shows plus I added a couple of pics from that tour in 2006. He's an exceptional live artist. The voice, the musicianship, just awesome. And his band's always tight. Though I do miss Liberty on the kit.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1LxOmdEbdE

I have a bootleg of that Sunrise show and you're right that crowd is stunned. Would have loved to be there because it was an amazing setlist!

Gary Carter

I have a love/hate towards Billy

I love Billy cause obviously I'm from the island, so its a birthright to like him and all. I hate him cause he won't tour anymore and I feel he can still do it seeing as how Bruce and many others are still rocking.

EdsonNascimento

Gary Carter wrote:

I have a love/hate towards Billy

I love Billy cause obviously I'm from the island, so its a birthright to like him and all. I hate him cause he won't tour anymore and I feel he can still do it seeing as how Bruce and many others are still rocking.

Bruce doesn't tour every year. Billy Joel just did a HUGE tour from the start of 2009 through the 1st quarter of 2010 that would make PJ blush in its hey day. And at the time, he said he'd do another tour, just needed a break.

I'm not sure why this board expects folks to tour constantly. Would you if you were in their position? The guy's 62 years old.

_

Billy Joel has been one of my favorite musicians since I was a kid! Glad I'm not the only one! I just wish I could see him live.

Save Me

EdsonNascimento wrote:

Gary Carter wrote:

I have a love/hate towards Billy

I love Billy cause obviously I'm from the island, so its a birthright to like him and all. I hate him cause he won't tour anymore and I feel he can still do it seeing as how Bruce and many others are still rocking.

Bruce doesn't tour every year. Billy Joel just did a HUGE tour from the start of 2009 through the 1st quarter of 2010 that would make PJ blush in its hey day. And at the time, he said he'd do another tour, just needed a break.

I'm not sure why this board expects folks to tour constantly. Would you if you were in their position? The guy's 62 years old.

Billy toured w/Elton in 09/10, not solo. His last solo concert was the Shea shows after which he basically said I don't know how we can top those and this is probably it for me doing these types of major concerts. Last solo tour started in Jan 2006 and continued straight up to those amazing Shea shows in 08. Many of those Face 2 Face shows w/Elton got cancelled due to an Elton and then a Billy "illness".

Save Me

riotgrl wrote:

I have a bootleg of that Sunrise show and you're right that crowd is stunned. Would have loved to be there because it was an amazing setlist!

riotgrl, I have the same boot. The show was amazing. It was Billy's first solo tour since the Millennium shows in 99/2000 so all us diehards had no idea what to expect. I was 10 rows back center and he blew everyone's mind that night w/the setlist. I know a lot of people who came looking for a hits show were dissapointed but I was on cloud 9. His voice was insane that night.

riotgrl

Save Me wrote:

riotgrl wrote:

I have a bootleg of that Sunrise show and you're right that crowd is stunned. Would have loved to be there because it was an amazing setlist!

riotgrl, I have the same boot. The show was amazing. It was Billy's first solo tour since the Millennium shows in 99/2000 so all us diehards had no idea what to expect. I was 10 rows back center and he blew everyone's mind that night w/the setlist. I know a lot of people who came looking for a hits show were dissapointed but I was on cloud 9. His voice was insane that night.

Yes he was voice was just about perfect. I never listen to that boot though - really crappy quality - but I dig it out on occasion! I like the early 70s shows - they are so amazing and I am a superfan of all those early songs of his. You can't beat The Stranger but I've always had a soft spot for Cold Spring Harbor!

Porchsitter

I'm a huge Billy Joel fan thanks to my dad. We would spend hours on the road heading to my grandmothers listening to "Turnstiles" and "Glass Houses." I would say he's the reason why the piano is my favorite instrument.

Newch91

I took piano lessons in high school and I would always ask my teacher to play Billy Joel. It was great.

Newch91

Anyone see this?

http://www.billyjoel.com/news/billy-joe ... iral-video

uninnocent-

Billy Joel has a great back catalog of quality music. I consider him good comfort music, and I listen to him when I need a pick-me-up. That said, We Didn't Start the Fire has got to be my favourite of his.