On Sunday night, I had the opportunity to catch Billy Joel in concert again. I dare not think how many times i've caught him live over the years, but it began with my mother taking me out to Kooyong Stadium to see him in the late 80's and has continued since then. Nowadays though, I like to take my mum with me and shout her for the many times she did the same for me as a child.
I did have to laugh afterwards though, as I said to my mother before the show that all I really wanted to hear was two songs, 'Summer, Highland Falls' and 'Vienna'. Both are album tracks, fairly obscure and non-singles. 'Summer, Highland Falls' comes from his 1976 album 'Turnstiles' (more famous for 'Say Goodbye To Hollywood' and 'New York State Of Mind') and the other from 1977's 'The Stranger' (better known for 'Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)', 'Only The Good Die Young', 'The Stranger', 'She's Always a Woman', 'Just The Way You Are', 'Scenes From An Italian Restaurant'... in fact, nearly everything else on that album was a hit...)
Not too long into the show, Billy says to the audience, "Ok, i'm going to give you an option... either you can have 'Summer, Highland Falls' (YAY!!! Picture me clapping excitedly)... or 'Vienna' (um... 'YAY!!!'... me confused but still clapping excitedly).
'Vienna' won out in the end, so I still win as either would do, but then I was really pleased that much of the show seemed to be focusing on non-single album tracks ('Everybody Loves You Now', 'Zanzibar', 'The Entertainer') while still mixing it up with the hits that he really has to play. I have to confess, I could happily not hear 'An Innocent Man', 'Uptown Girl' or 'Allentown' again, but they're mainstream favourites and I guess people would feel cheated if he didn't play them. I did get told by a work mate on Monday that during the Friday night show, he played 'Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)', which I would've LOVED to have heard, but you can't get them all. The program also mentioned them rehearsing 'Sometimes a Fantasy', which I would've loved as well... but hey, it was still a fine show that went for something like two and a half hours, so I definitely felt I got value for money - just disappointed I could only get to one show!
I have the U2 concerts this weekend to look forward to. Thankfully, i'm getting to go to both nights so I hope they spice up their set a little differently each night, although they tend to in order to keep it interesting for them.
Still no new news on the home. Pre-signed Saturday and just waiting to hear back from the real estate agent to find out if the vendor accepts and to hear back from Trevor to see if St George Bank are going to be kind enough to give us the money!
