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I attended a Billy Joel concert in 1983.  My sister bugged me for weeks to go to the concert with her.  Apparently, she had acquired these tickets and did not have anyone to go with.  I thought about it.  I was not sure.  Being a rebellious metal head at the time, I wanted to know there was nothing else going on.  I finally figured she probably really wanted to go, and if she was considering asking me, she was probably pretty desperate.  I came to the conclusion, at the age of sixteen, to play the role of the supportive little brother and placed my musical beliefs aside; along with the leather studded belt.

There we sat, twelfth-row-center, and with my arms crossed awaiting his arrival.  We watched as the Roadies made final preparations to the stage behind a black curtain. I hummed to myself and looked around the crowd.  Everyone was so lame, conservative, and old.  They must have all been at least twenty-five, twenty-six.  The time read eight-o-two.  The tickets read seven-thirty. There was no opening band.  I rolled my eyes.  My sister seemed pretty excited.  I was quiet and smiled.  The song Piano Man rang through as one of the pre-concert songs over the loudspeakers.  The lights dimmed, and the music grew louder.  One light shown through the smoky fog.  There he sat, played and sang.  I decided to loosen up my collar and pinned my permed-style hair behind my ears.  This guy was not bad.  Not bad at all.  Actually, quite good.  No screaming vocals or wailing guitars, but good nonetheless.  Yes, Indeed.  Quite good.

After a while, I was cheering for the Piano Man in full force.  The crowd was into too, but probably showed their enthusiasms differently; probably slightly more conservatively.  There was this point in the show when he adlibbed and introduced the band.  At the time, being a fan of the sixth string instrument, I decided to cheer as he introduced the guitarist.

Facts – The concert was part of the “Innocent Man Tour.”; There were five consecutive shows being held at Madison Square Garden for that week; all sold out; My sister and I attended the Thursday show; Billy Joel treated everyone in the audience to a slice of pizza during the Friday show; I was the only one who cheered loudly for the guitarist during the band’s introduction to the audience, who was also from Bay Ridge Brooklyn, and embarrassed my sister.  She hit me on the arm.

 
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