wasabedan

As the comments have run the gamut I’d like to give my view on this without addressing (attacking?) any one in particular.

I really think we should be giving Bruce the benefit of the doubt here. Those of us who follow him know he makes many comments “tongue in cheek” to the audience and is not serious about it. Those in the audience shouldn’t be so thin skinned that they can’t take a ribbing once in awhile (but I guess that is what our society has wrought – we all need to be soooo sensitive about everyone else – but that’s another rant).

Secondly it’s his concert let Bruce set the rules at the start. If he isn’t looking for requests, he’ll let everyone know so people shouldn’t be constantly YELLING out the same song over and over. Believe me I’ve been there and it is disconcerting to say the least to listen to them all concert long. WE all know the routine and there is a better way to requests songs. WRITE IT ON A PIECE OF PAPER AND BRING IT TO THE STAGE. Very simple.

I’ll admit though as of late he has been a bit more testy with audience interuptus and makes a point of mentioning it.(refering to both concerts in NY last year). I think Bruce is “getting more in touch” with his talent as a musician and wants to be taken seriously. One would never think of going to a Keith Jarrett concert and coughing let alone yelling out a song to be played without being hung from the rafters. (just mentioning as a response as Bruce considers Keith as one of those who inspires him and I have heard similarities in their style at times).

Maybe it’s all about respect. No I take that back IT IS about respect. I enjoy the party atmosphere as much as the next one – but the primary reason I took to Bruce and continue to look forward each and every year to seeing him is his playing ability, vocals, and his lyrics. At a time when so much nonsense passes for music (see rap, hip hop, punk, various lip-syncing) it’s refreshing and reassuring to hear and see someone with real talent, and be their own person and play what inspires them and not pandering to the market demands.

When I go to a concert my attitude is that I want to hear Bruce and what he has selected. Maybe I’m the minority – and more passive in my approach. And while I do wish that he plays certain songs my ticket does not give me unlimited latitude to act in certain ways and make flagrant demands during the show. My ticket entitles me to listen to his performance and show appreciation or not at the end of each song and at the end of the concert.
Those of you who think you are entitled to much more during a concert my suggestion is that you see the posting subject in the forum addressing getting a private show together.

uugggggghhhhhhh!!!!

Well Si now you went and did it – I had to sit through that song at Oyster Bay embarrassed in front of my friends and I HAD convinced myself that it wasn’t really all that bad.

WELL IT SOUNDS A WHOLE LOT WORSE than when I was there. I can’t believe that people acted that way. They really ruined a great segue of songs and a great rendition of them.

I know I am beating on this topic and THIS concert – but what in god’s name are people going to concerts for if not to listen.

As I am going to the concert on Friday I would like to steal from the title of a conservative book and advise people to SHUT UP AND LISTEN! – I know I will.

Si, I was at the O’bay concert and did my RANT on the Oyster bay topic . Not just the audience but MS. Joel also 😈

To recap I was quite disgusted with the whole night – waiting a year to the day for Bruce’s return engagement. I actually thought that “a friend of the arts” venue would be more conducive for a great concert but it was not be, pray tell.

Not to applaud us here but maybe we (the hardcore fans) are of a different breed. I think we have different expectations of the live concert and that’s one of the things that draws us to Bruce. BUT as Bruce says in A Night on the Town at the end of the concert – “we attract a diverse crowd”. Unfortunately those few ruin it for everyone else.

I also think Bruce has a different expectation of the people in the audience – why else would we be there unless to HEAR HIM perform? He expects more from us.

Unfortunately the behavior we encountered is becoming more the norm for any concert – Rap, Hip HOP, Heavy Metal, Rock, …Cher 😆
It’s not about the music for them it’s just a spectacle, an event, and they believe they are entitled to act anyway they want as they paid their money.

Well – I’m the eternal optimist and I’m going to give it another chance 10 days till I see Bruce again 11/10/o6. Ironically performing at The New York Society for Ethical Culture Town Hall. Let’s hope for the best!

Well this says it all

Funny thing he doesn’t say ANYTHING about Bruce’s show. He also doesn’t say much about how WELL she sang. He talks about her style and influences, the article is all fluff and no substance – no doubt a courtesy from newsday to mister Joel.
All it talks about is what she did onstage and nothing about her performance – it’s very factual.
Guzman’s comments about Alexa Ray being a singer is like saying the Yugo is an automobile.
Maybe I’m just being bitter because I didn’t go there to see alexa ray, I went to see Bruce! Guzman says she played for an hour (it was more) – and it seemed like days!! In any event she played at least 30 minutes too long!!!
Her selfishness and self promotion put a damper on what was to be a great night and Bruce’s only NY appearance with his band.
While I’m ranting 😡 , the people in the audience who pissed Bruce off and and made it so difficult to enjoy the show with their yelling were probably there only to see Alexa Ray anyway.

Bruce – next year Westbury/North fork – AND NO OPENING ACTS
CONCERT REVIEW
Billy’s girl strikes all the right notes
BY RAFER GUZMÁN
Newsday Staff Writer
August 27, 2006

The headliner was Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, but the nearly sold-out crowd showed up early to catch the opening act, introduced simply as “a girl from Long Island.” As if everyone didn’t know, the girl was Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of that most famous local musician, Billy Joel.

In the audience were her mother, Christie Brinkley; her half-sister, Sailor Lee; and the Piano Man himself. The 20-year-old singer-songwriter announced that the one-hour concert was her “first hometown gig” and the longest she’d ever played, making it a coming-out party of sorts – albeit one reportedly shadowed by paparazzi and documented by the “Today” show.

Joel is not a total rookie: She’s been touring clubs and colleges and posting demos on MySpace (her star-studded friends list includes Fiona Apple and Butch Walker). Her six-song EP, “Sketches,” was on sale at the show. Throughout the concert, she chatted easily with the audience, sang with conviction and appeared poised and confident at her electric piano.

Like her father, Joel takes inspiration from early pop, even pre-pop. “The Heart of Me” rolled along on a doo-wop cadence; “Say Goodbye” borrowed from Tin Pan Alley; “The Sapphire Night,” which Joel wrote as a teenager, sounded like a 1950s teen ballad. As a lyricist, Joel is still developing – many of her songs seem to be about writing songs – but her clever, ever-shifting chord progressions are unfailingly catchy.

Dad’s influence ends when Joel begins to sing. Her distinctive voice has a speedy, almost chipmunkish vibrato, but it also has grit and brass. Perhaps through osmosis, Joel has soaked up the R&B and gospel influences that define the current sound of female pop.

At the show’s end, Joel moved away from her keyboard to join her three-piece band for two numbers, the slow-burning “Song of Yesterday” (dedicated to her mother) and a straight-up funk tune, “Not Alright,” that brought the audience to its feet.

Clearly, someone has taught Joel how to control a crowd. “Thank you,” she said sweetly. “That’s all for today, folks.”

ALEXA RAY JOEL. The nonprofit Friends of the Arts brings some local talent to its summer concert series. Friday at Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park, Oyster Bay.

Request for live shadowlands

Hi Si,
I’m looking forward to seeing Bruce at Oyster Bay Planting Fields. I recall you said you would be there. It’s a neat place if you’ve never been there before. It has one of the few Gold Coast estates still surviving from a different era on Long Island.
I was hoping (if available) you could post a version of Shadowlands.
Thanks!
Dan.

I’m going ‘range with about 11 friends. Tickets went fast. In a day I went from row l to CC. Oh well we’re inside the tent if the weather doesn’t hold up.
Article in Newsday -saturday or sunday about Billy Joel attending no wonder why tickets went fast!! Can you say duet – and I DON’T mean with his daughter!!