We started to wonder if it was ever going to happen. Not surprisingly, the second date was once again rescheduled. The initial date was postponed for six months. Just before COVID hit, I purchased tickets for Maddie and me to see him at Madison Square Garden. It was on my bucket list, and now that Maddie wanted to see him, it was a no-brainer.
#BILLY JOEL VIENNA WAITS FOR YOU FULL#
This performance was a night of conversation and a little music, so I’d still never attended his full concert performance. I was in the last row of Eisenhower Auditorium when he sang “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’”, I remember being pushed back in my seat - his voice was so strong. I told her that I’d seen him when he came to State College in the 90s. While traveling, Maddie and play his music and try to rank our top five favorite songs (we can never do it - it’s too hard). She has posters and album covers on the walls of her bedroom and a charm with the title of her favorite song, “Vienna,” on a necklace. Over the last three years, her appreciation and interest in Billy Joel has grown. It took me a moment to accept that “old people music” is a relative term and that it had, indeed, been more than 40 years since “You May Be Right” was released.
“You know, like Billy Joel and Elton John,” she said. “What exactly do you mean by ‘old people music’?,” I asked. So imagine my surprise when Maddie - about the time she became a teenager - announced that she “really liked listening to certain old people music.” I could easily create a timeline of my life marked by Billy Joel’s music and lyrics. “We Didn’t Start the Fire” takes me to my high school social studies class where we analyzed every line. At our wedding, Michelle and I danced to “She’s Got a Way.”
If I listen to “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” I can feel the rough upholstery of my parents’ motorhome. When I listen to Billy’s Joel’s “You May Be Right,” I’m instantly taken back to 1985, playing pool in the basement with my middle school friends.
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