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captainsblogWord has it (word from my sister, anyway) that I saw Billy Joel perform live, in the mid-60s, with his then garage band The Hassles, somewhere on the east end of Long Island when I was about six. I remember at least one trip out there with her, but him? Them? No recollection of the music at all.
Also no recollection of me ever attending any concert that he put on, anywhere, in the close to 50 years since that forgotten trip. That's not for lack of opportunity: he was a Cornell regular even in his days before the major success of The Stranger, and he played dozens of tours, upstate and down, in the decades since then. I can't say I was avoiding him any more than my many chances in those years to see Springsteen, another who is still waiting to fall into my (list of) bucket, but for whatever reason, the Piano Man and I have never been under the same roof (or, in the case of his closing Shea Stadium concert, under the same airport flight plan).
In a little over three months, though, that will finally change. I think.
----
As I'd heard earlier in the year, and as was confirmed in this recent New Yorker profile, Billy Joel has taken up semi-permanent Artist in Residence status at Manhattan's Madison Square Garden (which, per the Confuse the Tourists Act of 1967, is nowhere near Madison Avenue, is round, and has only the smell of compost in common with any true garden). He has pledged to continue monthly shows there until his voice or the crowds completely run out, whichever comes first. The voice, at least as of the final Shea show in 2008, was still doing quite well, and as for popular interest, it's there, too. You can read this Forbes piece about the aftermarket average prices for these ducats throughout the first dozen of the MSG monthlies (roughly four times the face value), or you can just take my word for it: Dude's still popular.
I'd looked up tickets for the shows he did this past August and one other time I would, or thought I would, be down in that area earlier this year, with no luck (unless I wanted to consider Stubhubbing my way into insolvency), but I happened to catch word a couple of days ago that the tickets for the first two 2015 monthly shows would go on sale at 10 this morning. At that very moment, I was here, just waiting for a bunch of return calls/answered emails/promised documents, so I opened the dreaded Ticketmonster site and decided to try my luck.
For close to half an hour, I had none: two open tabs (one for the January show, one for February which I actually preferred), switching between Regular and Citicard Preferred (I have no such preference but the code is the first six digits of any Citi credit card, which I include in about three bankruptcies a month so I knew it). And, amazingly, two February 18 seats in the 200s popped up and said they were mine if I could claim them in time.
Well.
If it's not clear from these dullities, we don't go out much. I do have a TM account, but the site was not recognizing my stored password, and when I submitted a change order for it (with about 4 minutes on the clock), it erased all my pre-saved billing, shipping and payment information (which, even if it had the latter, would have been wrong anyway because, FU Homer Depot). So I had to re-enter it all manually, and quickly, because any missed field sent you back to the start of that screen, and I hit SUBMIT with exactly 0:00 left on the clock, getting a browser URL ending in "order_confirm" but a screen that just spun round for close to an hour without advancing to confirmation number OR kicking me out without ticketing. Finally, tired of the spinning class, I called the 800 customer service number, endured 20 minutes of busy signals, and yet, somehow, came away with no sign of my order (a sign eventually confirmed online which alleged I'd "canceled"), but, nonetheless, with two seats on the other side of the 200s, a little closer to the stage, and for a couple of dollars more, but, all the same, this little tiny corner of Manhattan real estate, for a few hours, was....
----
Except it wasn't. No, not yet.
I'd been promised tickets by email within five minutes, but nothing showed for close to an hour. (Very little of the work I was waiting for ever showed up, either.) My Ticketmonster account showed no evidence of the purchase, although the credit card account, now, did, but I still had nothing to give an usher on the way in. So, back to the 800 number, another half dozen voice prompts, more hideous waiting on hold (Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie," guys? REALLY?), but, finally, a human being and an explanation:
No actual tickets until December 1st. Confirmation email in 48 hours, not five minutes. And I triple-checked that they had the email address right.
So I think it's a go. Eleanor and Emily have respective first and second dibs on my left, but if that doesn't work out, check this space as 18 February nears, especially if Billy's in your bucket, too.
Also no recollection of me ever attending any concert that he put on, anywhere, in the close to 50 years since that forgotten trip. That's not for lack of opportunity: he was a Cornell regular even in his days before the major success of The Stranger, and he played dozens of tours, upstate and down, in the decades since then. I can't say I was avoiding him any more than my many chances in those years to see Springsteen, another who is still waiting to fall into my (list of) bucket, but for whatever reason, the Piano Man and I have never been under the same roof (or, in the case of his closing Shea Stadium concert, under the same airport flight plan).
In a little over three months, though, that will finally change. I think.
----
As I'd heard earlier in the year, and as was confirmed in this recent New Yorker profile, Billy Joel has taken up semi-permanent Artist in Residence status at Manhattan's Madison Square Garden (which, per the Confuse the Tourists Act of 1967, is nowhere near Madison Avenue, is round, and has only the smell of compost in common with any true garden). He has pledged to continue monthly shows there until his voice or the crowds completely run out, whichever comes first. The voice, at least as of the final Shea show in 2008, was still doing quite well, and as for popular interest, it's there, too. You can read this Forbes piece about the aftermarket average prices for these ducats throughout the first dozen of the MSG monthlies (roughly four times the face value), or you can just take my word for it: Dude's still popular.
I'd looked up tickets for the shows he did this past August and one other time I would, or thought I would, be down in that area earlier this year, with no luck (unless I wanted to consider Stubhubbing my way into insolvency), but I happened to catch word a couple of days ago that the tickets for the first two 2015 monthly shows would go on sale at 10 this morning. At that very moment, I was here, just waiting for a bunch of return calls/answered emails/promised documents, so I opened the dreaded Ticketmonster site and decided to try my luck.
For close to half an hour, I had none: two open tabs (one for the January show, one for February which I actually preferred), switching between Regular and Citicard Preferred (I have no such preference but the code is the first six digits of any Citi credit card, which I include in about three bankruptcies a month so I knew it). And, amazingly, two February 18 seats in the 200s popped up and said they were mine if I could claim them in time.
Well.
If it's not clear from these dullities, we don't go out much. I do have a TM account, but the site was not recognizing my stored password, and when I submitted a change order for it (with about 4 minutes on the clock), it erased all my pre-saved billing, shipping and payment information (which, even if it had the latter, would have been wrong anyway because, FU Homer Depot). So I had to re-enter it all manually, and quickly, because any missed field sent you back to the start of that screen, and I hit SUBMIT with exactly 0:00 left on the clock, getting a browser URL ending in "order_confirm" but a screen that just spun round for close to an hour without advancing to confirmation number OR kicking me out without ticketing. Finally, tired of the spinning class, I called the 800 customer service number, endured 20 minutes of busy signals, and yet, somehow, came away with no sign of my order (a sign eventually confirmed online which alleged I'd "canceled"), but, nonetheless, with two seats on the other side of the 200s, a little closer to the stage, and for a couple of dollars more, but, all the same, this little tiny corner of Manhattan real estate, for a few hours, was....
----
Except it wasn't. No, not yet.
I'd been promised tickets by email within five minutes, but nothing showed for close to an hour. (Very little of the work I was waiting for ever showed up, either.) My Ticketmonster account showed no evidence of the purchase, although the credit card account, now, did, but I still had nothing to give an usher on the way in. So, back to the 800 number, another half dozen voice prompts, more hideous waiting on hold (Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie," guys? REALLY?), but, finally, a human being and an explanation:
No actual tickets until December 1st. Confirmation email in 48 hours, not five minutes. And I triple-checked that they had the email address right.
So I think it's a go. Eleanor and Emily have respective first and second dibs on my left, but if that doesn't work out, check this space as 18 February nears, especially if Billy's in your bucket, too.
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Date: 2014-11-15 02:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-11-16 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-11-16 01:54 pm (UTC)Elton John, who did a number of tours with Joel, told Rolling Stone in 2011, “Billy’s a conundrum. We’ve had so many cancelled tours because of illnesses and various other things, alcoholism . . . He’s going to hate me for this, but every time he goes to rehab they’ve been light . . . When I went to rehab, I had to clean the floors. He goes to rehab where they have TVs. I love you, Billy, and this is tough love.”
“Elton is just being Elton,” Joel responded to Rolling Stone. But he was pissed. According to a biography of Joel by the Rolling Stone writer Fred Schruers—the book was originally intended as an as-told-to autobiography, but at the last minute Joel, increasingly uneasy about revealing so much of himself, pulled out and sent back his advance—Joel wrote Elton John an angry note: “What gives you the omnipotent moral certainty and authority to justify the public humiliation of anyone—especially of someone to whom you should, at the very least, consider according a modicum of honor?” He signed off, “We are done.”
Then again, considering how many times the Who, the Eagles and a dozen others threatened us with final farewell, I expect to see the two pianas together again someday.
no subject
Date: 2014-11-16 06:34 pm (UTC)