Billy Joel and Elton John Concert, Face to Face Tour 2010

My very cute and music-loving roommate and I went to see this concert last night at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. We had seats in Section 107, which was just a bit above eye level with the two stars.

I like Billy Joel’s music, and I like some of the Elton John’s stuff also. The concert was an unexpected pleasure.

First of all, I’ve got to say up front: if you are a sound guy, please pay attention to this. LOUDER IS NOT NECESSARILY BETTER. Music that is largely vocal and/or acoustic (piano comes to mind) should not cause your ears to hurt as it is being played. That was the only real down from this show, but it is unfortunately that way for many concerts.

The two stars came out at about 1940, sat down, and started playing. An Elton John song went first, then a Billy Joel song. They played and sang together, and did it really well. Well coordinated piano, and trading song verses like a well-oiled machine. It was occasionally really hard to hear the words because of the high sound pressure levels (distortion), but that didn’t seem to matter to the thousands of fans in the Ford Center who knew the songs by heart.

The Ford Center was packed. We think it was sold out. Wikipedia reports the capacity of the place as 20,817, and I think it was that full.

After about ten songs, Billy Joel took a break, and Elton John performed solo for about an hour. He didn’t say anything to the crowd, he just sat and played. He got up a couple times and signed autographs for people near the stage, but otherwise it was just straight playing. That man can play a piano! His music was from the 60s and 70s.

When Billy Joel took his break, his grand piano disappeared straight down through the floor, then a replacement floor slid into place. Very cool. The band members on the upper part of the stage also did the disappear-down-the-hole trick. The members of the band did great work with the various guitars and the drums.

After Elton was done, his piano sank into the stage and Joel’s came back up. More amazing piano work! The music he played was mainly from the early 80’s. At one point, he got a guitar (the piano did it’s sinking thing again) and did a great version of “We Didn’t Start The Fire”. Joel also did some talking to the crowd, identifying the band members, cracking a few jokes (he sang “Uptown Girl”, and afterward he cracked “and then she divorced me”), and introducing the songs by year and album. He played a version of “Oklahoma” at one point, which was a nice touch. He was very personable.

Joel’s piano also rotated like a Lazy Susan, so the entire crowd could see all sides of him.

After about an hour, John’s piano came back up again, and the two of them went back at it for another half hour.

In spite of the too-loud speakers, you could clearly hear the crowd singing loudly along with the performers. There must have been thousands singing along with every song. Raegan and I sang along, or rather bellowed, and I could not usually hear myself sing, much less her right next to me.

The two of them did a beautiful duet of “Candle In The Wind”. Joel also did another rendition of “Oklahoma”.

Surprisingly, in spite of the crowd shouting, there were no encores.

All being said, this was a really, really good show. It happens to be the most expensive pair of tickets I have ever paid for a show of any kind. That includes a number of Broadway productions and two different Las Vegas major shows (Phantom and Mama Mia). Given that it was two major stars, and the fact that the concert was almost solid music for three and a half hours, it was worth it. I do wish the sound had been better managed.

Tags: 2010, Billy Joel, Concert, Elton John, Face to Face Tour, OK, Oklahoma City