Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 14:49:59 -0500 Message-Id: <199503271949.OAA19424@chaos.taylored.com> From: /G=DD/S=TPARK@mhs-pms.attmail.com To: joel@chaos.taylored.com Reply-To: /G=DD/S=TPARK@mhs-pms.attmail.com Subject: San Diego and Las Vegas Errors-To: nobody@chaos.taylored.com Precedence: list Sender: joel-request@chaos.taylored.com (Billy Joel Mailing List) X-List: Billy Joel X-Author: /G=DD/S=TPARK@mhs-pms.attmail.com OK Everyone - I've just returned from a five day trip which took me to San Diego and the FtF Show on the 22nd, and on to Las Vegas for BOTH nights at the MGM Grand (24th and 25th). I have to say in all honesty, that the past few days have held the most intense experiences of my life. Here are my comments from my road trip: SAN DIEGO (3/22) - The first Show of the "Live in 95" Face to Face Tour was almost rained out before it began, but luckily it cleared up hours before the show. As most of you probably already know from other posts, Billy was sick and recovering from a cold. Elton's set list didn't change at all from the first part of the tour, as far as new songs are concerned - with the exception of EJ's new single "Believe". Billy's set list seemed slightly shortened - he started with "No Man's Land" and "Ballad of Billy the Kid". No surprises in his set or special songs, with the exception of a few bars of the Doors' "Riders on the Storm" to show off his 'low voice'. All in all, the show was good, not excellent. I have to say that with all the concerts I've been to (10 prior to this show), and with all of the videos & audios I've heard (both professional and bootleg) -- Billy was probably at his worst at this show. Don't get me wrong, he was a trooper and plunged through his set, but vocally he was completely off. He gave a routine performance, and didn't seem as excited. He was coughing throughout the entire show, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy (and for the people in the audience who's first exposure to Billy Joel Live was this show). Objectively, (this is hard for me to say) - I'd have to say Elton outperformed Billy this night. Elton was sounding great and has seemed to only be getting better as this tour has progressed. This was most evident in their duet-songs, in which Elton's strong & healthy singing was counterpointed by Billy's straining to sing while not coughing. Seriously, that's how bad it was. LAS VEGAS (3/24) - On to a new town and a new venue. The MGM Grand Garden is probably the BEST venue I can think of, other than in your own backyard, to see this show, or any other rock concert. The capacity is only a measly 13,000 compared to the 50,000+ that was in San Diego a few nights before. The closest thing I can compare this venue to is Pauley Pavilion, home of UCLA Bruin Basketball, and a smaller Pauley at that. Additionally, we are seeing the FtF Show minus the extravagent set and giant video screens. Who needs them here? Everyone is so close!! The stage in Vegas is also much lower and smaller, and there is no second tier to the stage as there is to all of the Stadium venues. Basically, BJ/EJ were eye-level and completely visible to everyone, not to mention literally within reach of the front row. Most importantly, this venue is indoors - the only indoor venue on this tour. This made the acoustics and the sound incredible!!! The Vegas shows were by far the BEST Billy Joel concerts I have been to, sound quality wise! The differences between San Diego and Vegas were so stark, that I would go so far to say that they were *different* shows. The energy level, the sound-quality, and the venue itself just made Vegas a much more intimate, and super-charged show! Billy was much healthier for this show (although he was still blowing his nose between songs off and on), and you could tell he was putting extra effort into this show-- maybe to make up for the San Diego performance. He wasnt smiling too often in San Diego, but he was all smiles here. His set list changed from the San Diego show in that he dropped "No Man's Land" and "Ballad..." and started with "I Go to Extremes" and added "Angry Young Man". Billy also did a lot of impressions: he sang a few bars of "The Lady is A Tramp" Sinatra-style, a full version of "Jailhouse Rock" and a few bars of "Viva Las Vegas" , Elvis-style. He interacted much more with the audience, and with Elton. Elton came out at one point with a green , plastic suit, and Billy quipped, "Nice Suit!" and then proceeded to sing a few bars of "It's Not Easy Being Green" which was made famous by Kermit the Frog. The highlight of the evening, (in my opinion), was when I was front stage center and Billy picked me to sing into his mic at the end of "It's still rock and roll to me" --- he gave me an impressed look afterwords -- listening to the tape, afterwards, I have to admit that I sounded pretty good!!!!!!! LAS VEGAS (3/25) -- Vegas Part II. This night was Elton's Birthday and Billy sang happy Birthday to him as Elton was coming out to join Billy for "My Life". This night was even better than Friday night's show, as far as Billy's on-stage presence was concerned. There was much between-song dialogue, including comments regarding the New Jersey State Legislature picking Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" as their official song. "I can't picture the New Jersey State Legislature singing that song, everytime they convene" he said. He then proceeded to imitate a member of the legislature trying to sing the song -- it was very funny. Billy's set list was the same as Friday's show, with the following exceptions: He sang a few bars of "Mack the Knife" instead of "Ladi is a Tramp", He sang "Blue Suede Shoes" instead of "Jailhouse Rock" and he did one other Elvis song that I can't remember at this moment. He also dropped "Big Shot" which he did Friday Night. OK -- the highlight of Saturday evening, and you may not believe me, but I have it on tape (both nights), is that I was front row center, again, AND, Billy recognized me from the previous night and gave me the mic to sing into AGAIN at the end of "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me". I still can't believe it. My friend and I wore the same outfits from the night before so that he could recognize us -- and I had on this red shirt that made him point me out quickly - it worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! END: Well, that's about it for now. It was such a surreal experience. Not to mention the fact that I played roulette with Bill Zampino (BJ's production manager) and Tommy Byrnes (BJ's lead guitarist) after the show from 3 am - 6 am -- all in all, it was the most intense weekend of my life. If anyone has any questions, or anything, feel free to e-mail me directly at the address below. Thanks for reading! "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", Dave Park izzylt3@mvs.oac.ucla pms!dd_tpark@mhs.attmail.com p.s. Can somebody please cross-post this message onto the alt.music.billy-joel newsgroup on usenet? I'm having trouble doing so-- thank you!! p.p.s. I almost forgot -- I actually taped all of the shows with a DAT machine. The sound quality on San Diego is fair, the Friday Night Vegas show didn't record properly, but the Saturday Night show is really good quality! If anyone else went to the Friday night Vegas show and recorded it, I would love to trade with you. Or, if anyone has equal trade items, please e-mail me directly!!!!!!