Smile in My Heart – Suzi Shelton
Marsupial – Danny Weinkauf
Raise Your Hand – The Not-Its!
Sittin On A Cloud – The Whirlygigs
Mothership – Mr. Saxophone
Closer To You – Michael Franti & Spearhead
Groove – Lori Henriques
Gloria – Van Morrison & Them
Live And Let Die – Billy Joel
Showing posts with label Billy Joel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Billy Joel. Show all posts
Thursday, February 05, 2015
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
It's Still Billy Joel to Me (at MSG)
If there's a performer I've seen more times than anyone else, it's Billy Joel.
If there's a venue where I've seen him before more times than anywhere else, it's Madison Square Garden.
From Glass Houses to River of Dreams to New Years 1999 to 12 Gardens to his "franchise" stop on Friday, April 18, 2012, if he's been there, we've been there.
Now Billy has his critics as well as his fans, as they are legion. They want to know why he released his last original album in July 1993 and has essentially became a touring oldies act for the past 21 years – a period longer than his original recording career.
I straddle the fence. For New Years 1999, it was kind of nice to see a "big" concert in Manhattan and not have to deal with Times Square. And we were "only" six years out of River of Dreams, so there was still the hope, an inkling of hope, that a new album was just around the corner.
That thought was shot to hell by 12 Gardens, an ambitious engagement meant to shatter attendance records. But it was 13 years since River of Dreams – and a few years (2001) to be exact) since his classic noodling, FANTASIES AND DELUSIONS.
Billy has continually stated that he felt "thwarted" by the constraints of pop music. When Howard Stern interviewed him in November 2010, he went even further. Billy said that after 9/11, he suffered from writer's block and became unable to write new material. No kidding. His output since 1993 has consisted of two songs, one a cover of Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love" for GREATEST HITS VOLUME 3 and "All My Life," a 2006 tune for (then) new bride Katie Lee. The only one of his three "wifely" tunes not to make a big splash, it's ironic that he has not performed it live anywhere, considering it's his most recent composition. And he HAS performed "Uptown Girl" and "Just the Way You Are" numerous times.
But there we were on April 18, back at MSG, back to see Billy Joel. Back for the first time with our 13-year-old son, to introduce him to the guy who wrote all those songs he hears on the radio and in the car. "I look like my father," Billy told the crowd. Well, at 64, them's the breaks with genetics.
Billy played entirely from his own catalog. Tellingly, when he strayed, he went OLDER – doing a few verses from the Beatles and Elton John, leading to a punchline. You got no sense of a performer who stayed in touch with modern trends or even more recent entertainers. I'm not saying Billy Joel should be covering "Blurred Lines." But is there really no other material he'd like to attempt that isn't covered in dust, ivy, or moss?
Sadly, it's time to enact some tough love for Billy Joel. His newest CD? A re-release of his "Bridge to Russia" concert...from 1988. The hook? It includes songs that were cut to make room on the vinyl record.
Twenty-one years is long enough to wait. Hell, if you were born on the release date of RIVER OF DREAMS, you are now counting the days until you can legally drink! And believe me, when I think about that, it's enough to make ME want to have a drink. Billy Joel has not released an album of original material in 21 years!
Hell, even James Taylor has Billy beat. James released new albums in 1997 and 2002 and an album blatantly called COVERS in 2008. James performs as many if not more concerts every year than Billy Joel. Admittedly, he's made hits out of many songs that were written and first performed by others. But he hasn't given up the ghost. Even when he was tapped out, he resorted to cover tunes to otherwise break up a 12-year barren streak.
Twenty-one years. By the time our younger son is ready for a Billy Joel concert, Billy will be closing in on 70. I'm holding out the slim hope that Billy will have made a breakthrough and penned some new songs between now and 2020. But I'm not holding my breath. And ultimately, if he's still performing concerts at MSG, we'll be there. Maybe for less than $200 per ticket, too.
If there's a venue where I've seen him before more times than anywhere else, it's Madison Square Garden.
From Glass Houses to River of Dreams to New Years 1999 to 12 Gardens to his "franchise" stop on Friday, April 18, 2012, if he's been there, we've been there.
Now Billy has his critics as well as his fans, as they are legion. They want to know why he released his last original album in July 1993 and has essentially became a touring oldies act for the past 21 years – a period longer than his original recording career.
I straddle the fence. For New Years 1999, it was kind of nice to see a "big" concert in Manhattan and not have to deal with Times Square. And we were "only" six years out of River of Dreams, so there was still the hope, an inkling of hope, that a new album was just around the corner.
That thought was shot to hell by 12 Gardens, an ambitious engagement meant to shatter attendance records. But it was 13 years since River of Dreams – and a few years (2001) to be exact) since his classic noodling, FANTASIES AND DELUSIONS.
Billy has continually stated that he felt "thwarted" by the constraints of pop music. When Howard Stern interviewed him in November 2010, he went even further. Billy said that after 9/11, he suffered from writer's block and became unable to write new material. No kidding. His output since 1993 has consisted of two songs, one a cover of Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love" for GREATEST HITS VOLUME 3 and "All My Life," a 2006 tune for (then) new bride Katie Lee. The only one of his three "wifely" tunes not to make a big splash, it's ironic that he has not performed it live anywhere, considering it's his most recent composition. And he HAS performed "Uptown Girl" and "Just the Way You Are" numerous times.
But there we were on April 18, back at MSG, back to see Billy Joel. Back for the first time with our 13-year-old son, to introduce him to the guy who wrote all those songs he hears on the radio and in the car. "I look like my father," Billy told the crowd. Well, at 64, them's the breaks with genetics.
Billy played entirely from his own catalog. Tellingly, when he strayed, he went OLDER – doing a few verses from the Beatles and Elton John, leading to a punchline. You got no sense of a performer who stayed in touch with modern trends or even more recent entertainers. I'm not saying Billy Joel should be covering "Blurred Lines." But is there really no other material he'd like to attempt that isn't covered in dust, ivy, or moss?
Sadly, it's time to enact some tough love for Billy Joel. His newest CD? A re-release of his "Bridge to Russia" concert...from 1988. The hook? It includes songs that were cut to make room on the vinyl record.
Twenty-one years is long enough to wait. Hell, if you were born on the release date of RIVER OF DREAMS, you are now counting the days until you can legally drink! And believe me, when I think about that, it's enough to make ME want to have a drink. Billy Joel has not released an album of original material in 21 years!
Hell, even James Taylor has Billy beat. James released new albums in 1997 and 2002 and an album blatantly called COVERS in 2008. James performs as many if not more concerts every year than Billy Joel. Admittedly, he's made hits out of many songs that were written and first performed by others. But he hasn't given up the ghost. Even when he was tapped out, he resorted to cover tunes to otherwise break up a 12-year barren streak.
Twenty-one years. By the time our younger son is ready for a Billy Joel concert, Billy will be closing in on 70. I'm holding out the slim hope that Billy will have made a breakthrough and penned some new songs between now and 2020. But I'm not holding my breath. And ultimately, if he's still performing concerts at MSG, we'll be there. Maybe for less than $200 per ticket, too.
Sunday, June 09, 2013
Sir Paul Rocks the Decades Away
Paul McCartney is 70 years old.
On Saturday night, we took our son (12) to see Sir Paul, his second nighttime concert. If you discount Weird Al Yankovic, then it was his first nighttime concert.
McCartney does not disappoint an audience. You won't get tons of introspection, but my heavens what a catalog. NEWSDAY printed a set list from the OUT THERE tour opener and he did not vary, moving a few songs around here and there.
It was out first experience with the Barclays Center, owned by the devious Bruce Ratner. It's a marvelous "first class" facility as they call it, where everything is new, expensive, shiny, and expensive. Tour t-shirts were $40 outside and $45 inside. Should have bought it outside! No re-entry! And that plastic bottle of water you got for $1.49 at Duane Reade? Please throw it out and buy the same thing inside the arena for $4.75.
Our commute to the show was uneventful – LIRR to 3 train, right to the building. The reverse commute was quicker, but an outdated LIRR booklet showed a departure not on the summer schedule. So we waited 27 minutes for an after-midnight train, with muddy audience members from the Governors Ball concert at Randals Island (they saw Guns N Roses as the main attraction of their evening).
Due to the fact that Sir Paul records an album every few years, it's tough to peg him as a nostalgia act or an oldies tour. You get a chill when McCartney opens with "Eight Days a Week" from 1964 and notes later, "We never got around to playing that one live before."
The theme of this specific tour seems to be the redemption of Paul's second band, the much-maligned Wings. There are people who feel that Paul should never have followed the Beatles with another band, and others who feel that since he wrote the majority of Wings' material, it was all a sham. Still others feel it's ridiculous that Wings lasted almost as long as the Beatles and were forced down our throats by the record label and radio stations.
I could definitely have done without "Mrs. Vanderbilt" or "Hi Hi Hi" (as an encore!) as part of the concert. McCartney recalled performing in the Ukraine and how "Vanderbilt's" catchy chorus was the audience's favorite part of the entire concert.
The wife and I had seen Billy Joel's LAST PLAY AT SHEA in 2008, where McCartney made a surprise decibel-amplifying appearance. And when Paul returned in 2009 for the FIRST PLAY AT CITIFIELD, we were there when BJ returned the favor.
In comparing the set lists, it's interesting that Paul was pushing TWO (!) "recent releases" in 2009 – one was his 2007 studio LP, MEMORY ALMOST FULL and his 2008 CD as "The Fireman," ELECTRIC ARGUMENTS. His set list contained four songs from those CDs and very little Wings material. For this tour, we got one song from KISSES ON THE BOTTOM, his 2012 collection of classic Tin Pan Alley material. Otherwise, Beatles/solo/Wings all the way.
Eerily, Paul dedicated a number of songs to people who have passed away. "Let's hear it for John (Lennon)," he directed the crowd, before launching into "Here Today." A rush of images of waterfalls surrounded him. Later, he said, "Let's hear it for George" and broke into "Something." Here, we got a large number of photos of McCartney and Harrison taken by Linda Eastman McCartney. And Paul later remarked, "Here's a song I wrote for Linda" and the band played "Maybe I'm Amazed."
There were three other tributes – one for the late producer Phil Ramone ("Another Day," which Ramone produced), "My Valentine," written for Nancy, his current wife, and the familiar riff from "Foxy Lady," which led into a Beatles story about Jimi Hendrix.
It's the survivors who get to chronicle the living and McCartney has been recording and touring for six decades. Yet there's a certain somber sadness when he can dedicate number after number to departed comrades, then rebound from "Here Today" to the jaunty "Your Mother Should Know," complete with Beatles footage from MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR.
Paul is still in fine voice and when the band played "Eleanor Rigby," I experienced a "Voice of God" moment. Chills down the spine, blinking back tears of remembrance, looking back decades with memories of hearing it as a teen, then college, then as a parent... That makes it all special, being there to witness your own child hearing the song live, alive as music history, and alive in the moment anew.
Paul McCartney turns 71 years old on June 18. He has more tour dates after that.
Set list from Saturday, June 9 is here.
Here is someone's lousy video for "Live and Let Die" from the show we saw:
On Saturday night, we took our son (12) to see Sir Paul, his second nighttime concert. If you discount Weird Al Yankovic, then it was his first nighttime concert.
 |
| Ben and I at the Barclays Center |
It was out first experience with the Barclays Center, owned by the devious Bruce Ratner. It's a marvelous "first class" facility as they call it, where everything is new, expensive, shiny, and expensive. Tour t-shirts were $40 outside and $45 inside. Should have bought it outside! No re-entry! And that plastic bottle of water you got for $1.49 at Duane Reade? Please throw it out and buy the same thing inside the arena for $4.75.
Our commute to the show was uneventful – LIRR to 3 train, right to the building. The reverse commute was quicker, but an outdated LIRR booklet showed a departure not on the summer schedule. So we waited 27 minutes for an after-midnight train, with muddy audience members from the Governors Ball concert at Randals Island (they saw Guns N Roses as the main attraction of their evening).
Due to the fact that Sir Paul records an album every few years, it's tough to peg him as a nostalgia act or an oldies tour. You get a chill when McCartney opens with "Eight Days a Week" from 1964 and notes later, "We never got around to playing that one live before."
The theme of this specific tour seems to be the redemption of Paul's second band, the much-maligned Wings. There are people who feel that Paul should never have followed the Beatles with another band, and others who feel that since he wrote the majority of Wings' material, it was all a sham. Still others feel it's ridiculous that Wings lasted almost as long as the Beatles and were forced down our throats by the record label and radio stations.
I could definitely have done without "Mrs. Vanderbilt" or "Hi Hi Hi" (as an encore!) as part of the concert. McCartney recalled performing in the Ukraine and how "Vanderbilt's" catchy chorus was the audience's favorite part of the entire concert.
The wife and I had seen Billy Joel's LAST PLAY AT SHEA in 2008, where McCartney made a surprise decibel-amplifying appearance. And when Paul returned in 2009 for the FIRST PLAY AT CITIFIELD, we were there when BJ returned the favor.
In comparing the set lists, it's interesting that Paul was pushing TWO (!) "recent releases" in 2009 – one was his 2007 studio LP, MEMORY ALMOST FULL and his 2008 CD as "The Fireman," ELECTRIC ARGUMENTS. His set list contained four songs from those CDs and very little Wings material. For this tour, we got one song from KISSES ON THE BOTTOM, his 2012 collection of classic Tin Pan Alley material. Otherwise, Beatles/solo/Wings all the way.
 |
| McCartney stage setup at Barclays Center |
There were three other tributes – one for the late producer Phil Ramone ("Another Day," which Ramone produced), "My Valentine," written for Nancy, his current wife, and the familiar riff from "Foxy Lady," which led into a Beatles story about Jimi Hendrix.
It's the survivors who get to chronicle the living and McCartney has been recording and touring for six decades. Yet there's a certain somber sadness when he can dedicate number after number to departed comrades, then rebound from "Here Today" to the jaunty "Your Mother Should Know," complete with Beatles footage from MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR.
Paul is still in fine voice and when the band played "Eleanor Rigby," I experienced a "Voice of God" moment. Chills down the spine, blinking back tears of remembrance, looking back decades with memories of hearing it as a teen, then college, then as a parent... That makes it all special, being there to witness your own child hearing the song live, alive as music history, and alive in the moment anew.
Paul McCartney turns 71 years old on June 18. He has more tour dates after that.
Set list from Saturday, June 9 is here.
Here is someone's lousy video for "Live and Let Die" from the show we saw:
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