A look back at the Billy Joel concert that rocked Fenway Park last August
A look back at the Billy Joel concert from Fenway Park last August.
Billy Joel rocked Fenway Park last August to kick off his summer tour. This was Joel’s first show back in over a 18 months due to the pandemic putting concerts on hold. If you had the luxury of being in attendance, Joel rocked the ballpark with tunes and Fenway loved every minute of it.
I was nervous waking up because the forecast called for rain that evening in Boston. This was the first time I was going to see Billy Joel in concert. I have always heard he puts on a phenomenal show and he did not disappoint.
With the rain beginning to sprinkle down over Fenway Park, the lights dimmed and Joel played his first song in front of a live crowd. He would open his set with “My Life”, the place was singing along, the chicks we’re dancing in the rain. For the first time in a long time, things felt normal, people were living life.
Joel would follow up “My Life” with “Pressure”, what was amazing about the second song was the lights were flickering from the set and you could see the rain drizzle down. The crowd didn’t care though, they finally were outdoors listening to a live concert.
Joel would address the crowd and spoke about his hiatus off the stage and then referenced the rain. He would immediately break into an impromptu “Singin’ in the rain.” With the rain falling down over Fenway, Joel began to play one hit after another.
One of my favorite moments of the night was when Joel and his band played the song “River of Dreams” which then included a segment of “Tush” by ZZ Top. When that song started to play, if Fenway had a roof, it would have came down.
During the evening, there was even a marriage proposal. Joel would call on a the dude in the crowd and set up his proposal. Joel would play “She’s Always a Woman” and the camera would turn to the crowd and the couple would be on the screen for Fenway to see. The dude would ask his girlfriend to marry him, she said yes and Fenway went nuts.
The bangers continued on with Joel, “Only the Good Die Young” was amazing live! After a couple of $15 dollar Kettle One Vodka and Lemonade’s I was feeling the tunes. When he played “Only the Good Die Young” the ballpark was legit, lit.
I was up in the Grandstands, the section was full of couples, groups of friends and then single women ready to mingle. “We Didn’t Start the Fire” got the fire started in Grandstand 16, the gals we’re singing and screaming, the crowd was amped up.
Once he played “Uptown Girl”, Joel had 20 plus thousand karaoke singers inside of Fenway Park.
After two hours of jams from decades of Joel’s greatest hits and more, it was time to send the Fenway Faithful home. The 73-year-old would send us off with Piano Man, even writing that, I get the goosebumps thinking of him playing the harmonica.
If you have a chance to catch a Billy Joel concert, you should seriously dish out the cash and go even if it isn’t at Fenway. The show was amazing, it was a year and a half in the making. He would not disappoint, Joel would just jam and the crowd just forgot about COVID, work and everything else life throws at us and partied.
Thank you, Billy Joel, I hope we can do this again soon.
Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisHenrique
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