my blog |
Jul 10
2009
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The Lights Go up on The Piano MenPosted by Tommy in Untagged |
By Tommy McFly
Photo by Flickr/theart2009
The Face 2 Face tour is without doubt going to be one of the most mammoth of the summer, pairing
up music legends Elton John (left) with Billy Joel (right) with Elton John, piano-to-piano.
Here, they're peforming May 23 in Columbus, OH.
It was with breathless anticipation for Saturday’s concert that I sat down with a bottle of red, and a bottle of white to get in the spirit for the Piano Man to rock Nats Stadium.
Sure, there’s some British dude coming with him, but BILLY JOEL is where it’s at, as far as I'm concerned.
After scrolling through my iPod and catching up with all the classics: Uptown Girl, Only the Good Die Young, and the world’s best karaoke song for the tone deaf: "We Didn’t Start the Fire." (More on that in a minute.)
I was feeling like MORE Joel was in order, so I clicked over to Pandora for my very own Billy Joel "radio station."
After the LIVE version of Allentown and Always a Woman it started shuffling in Petty, U2 and Josh Grobin.
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Photo by Flickr/AnriduhKoul |
They’re all great artists but an EPIC FAIL for what I was in the mood for. It was at that moment that a bottle of rosé instead was needed.
Time to kick it old school with a burned and downloaded compact disc. Ahem, legally downloaded of course...
The bungalow was rockin’ for sure.
The Face 2 Face tour is without doubt going to be one of the most mammoth of the summer. The venue roster is sick: Wrigley Field, Citizen Bank Park and Washington Nationals ballpark to name a few of the rather short tour schedule.
Tickets are going for $182 and $102 via tickets.com which sounds INSANE but when you break it down per hit, it’s a wise investment.
And who knows if Billy will be back on the road. Until this weekend, all I have under the piano man concert column was seeing the traveling version of Movin’ Out. A great show, but not the really deal.
So you’ve found a sitter, or called off work the next day. What to do after the encore? A wine bar of course! Billy wouldn’t have it any other way. Might I suggest Proof DC and Zola in Penn Quarter or Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar near Eastern Market? I haven’t been, but Yelp gives them four stars.
Also word on the water is that Bobby McKee’s Dueling Piano Bar at the National Harbor is a blast. Perhaps, you can take a canoe from the stadium?
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Wherever the night leads, if you find yourself warming up the vocal chords for some Piano Man Karaoke might I recommend tackling "We Didn’t Start The Fire."
That is my secret weapon for when put in the situation of having to belt one out.
People are so impressed that you can keep up with the words no one cares about the stray dogs howling in the alley out back. Guaranteed when you nail: "Josef Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev," the crowd of half buzzed American Idol wannabes will just go bananas.
Whatever you do on Saturday night, I can’t tell you more 'cause I told you already; brace yourself, my Local friends, for a night of music like no other!
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Photo by John Arundel/Local Kicks |
Tommy McFly may be heard nights from 7 pm to midnight on Mix 107.3 FM. Contact him at mcflyradio@gmail.com.
