I became a Billy Joel fan in the wee hours of a Saturday night in 1984, while dancing on a friend’s bed and listening to “Uptown Girl” on vinyl. In the later 1980’s, I filled my Sunday mornings listening to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 , and my Billy Joel fandom continued. In 1990, I attended my second concert ever with two friends and my parents — Billy Joel’s Storm Front tour in Indianapolis. I made my parents sit in a different section.
Through the years my music taste evolved, and I attended numerous other concerts, including Sting, Bad Company, Lollapalooza, James Taylor, Van Halen, Genesis, The Cranberries, Dave Matthews Band, U2, Live, Alanis Morisette, Pearl Jam (6 times), Jimmy Buffett, Barenaked Ladies, Silversun Pickups and Imagine Dragons. Some of these have been Greg’s choices (Pearl Jam), and my panic attack at the Smashing Pumpkins concert is a story for another day. In recent years, my taste has moved into modern folk, and I h
But of all the concerts I’ve seen, Billy Joel still stands out as one of best entertainers. In my early years of marriage, my friend Megan and I drove twice to State College to see Joel – once with Elton John. And when he came to Hershey, my dad and I went to see him again. This time we sat together. So when I heard a friend had seen Billy Joel in Madison Square Garden for her husband’s 50 th birthday, I added this to my bucket list. I told my friend Karin, whose 2020 New Year’s resolution was to attend mor