Billy Joel and Elton John Face To Face at Key Arena

Years ago, Amy heard about Elton John and Billy Joel doing a concert together... and she thought, "Man, that would be an amazing thing to see!" but didn't go because she wasn't a concert goer back in the day... So years later, mid 2009ish, she mentioned to Anthony that if these two were to ever put a show on again, and tour in our area, that she would have to see it.



Would you believe that within the week, Anthony found that they were coming to Key Arena in November!?!?! So we immediately started searching for tickets, but most everything was sold out, or a horrible seat... so after doing some looking on craigs list we finally found a seller and got those babies in our hot little hands. Section 106, not to shabby!



Fast foward to November 4th... the concert is cancelled... ok, postponed... Elton John has Ecoli. Seriously, Sir Elton John, are you okay? Please get better soon! Oh, and if you wouldn't mind, please do reschedule!



Luckily the concert was rescheduled for February the 3rd, and Anthony hadn't already booked a flight out of town like he was going to, so we were able to make the event. With all this leading into the show, could it really live up to all of the hype and expectation?



YES!!! Laws yes!!



We skipped the band merch line because we wanted to get to our seat in plenty of time for the show to start.

As we waited, we observed this GIANT set piece hanging above the stage... and that there were people up there to run the light show... so many people it was crazy, and so high up, it was crazy scary! Later Billy Joel made a joke about how the seats up front where you can stand and watch the show up close are supposed to be the best seats in the house, "but look up... that's 2 tons of equipment above you... and those people up there have gone a long time without a restroom break..." Billy Joel is SO FUNNY!

The show didn't start right on time, which is fine, but we were getting antsy... here's a photo of our antsyness...

As we looked around we noticed that there were no pianos on stage. Finally there is some commotion, the show is about to start! Then these people closer to the stage start screaming.... but there is no Billy Joel, no Elton John... the lady in front of us looks up and says to us, "Did I miss something?" Nope, not sure that you did... but then I looked closer and there were two holes in the stage! The screamers must have seen the holes open up... and then, as the show started, for real this time, and the lights focused... two gigantic pianos rose up from beneath the stage, waiting for their masters...

BILLY JOEL AND ELTON JOHN!!! (I mean serioulsy, Amy is crying at this point because she is in the same room with effing BILLY JOEL and effing ELTON JOHN! "I mean, this is incredible!!" And she continues to cry to herself quietly for the first three songs because she is having an out of body experience and can't contain herself...)

YAY!!! hehehehe!!!

The show started out with some songs (see the set list below) played by Elton and Billy together. They started with Elton John's hit, "Your Song"... but the cool part was that Billy started to sing it first, then Elton sung the next part, then back and forth... Here's Anthony taking it all in...

After they played a few songs together, Billy Joel left the stage and Elton John played a set with his band. Later, Billy came back out, joined by his band, and at the end they all came together and rocked the house...

YEAH - sing us a song, Piano Man!!! LOVE IT!!! (Billy Joel is the effing MAN btw...)

Rocket Man!! Sing it, SING IT!!! You ROCK IT MAN!!

And you know who else loves Elton John? This guy... towards the end of Elton's set, he could not stop standing up and rocking out. He was fun to watch, gotta tell ya...

It was just SO amazing to have them both planing at the same time... I mean, really... This shot is confusing... it looks like Billy Joel is playing piano on Elton's lap... silly split screen...

WE ARE DIGGIN IT! We look way to calm for the coolness that is taking place at this moment!!

Seriously, look at this! SO AWESOME!!

Take a bow, gentelmen, you're amazing!!

After it was all over, we left, bought Amy a shirt (gotta have a momento from this night!) and snuck back in to see what we could see. Check it out, Sir Elton John has his own cover for his piano... well, duh! Of course he does!!!

There is so much more that can be said about this evening - it was just so wonderful. We decided it was the second best concert we have ever been too, and we've been to a lot of concerts. We had to give it a second best rating tho mostly because it was at the Key Arena, and that place really is not a great venue for a concert... but we'll go just about anywhere to see Elton John and Billy Joel... even the Tacoma Dome if we have to.

SET LIST:


EJ/BJ
Your Song
Just the Way You Are
Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me
My Life

Elton John
Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding
Saturday Night’s Alright (for Fighting)
Levon
Madman Across the Water
Tiny Dancer
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Daniel
Rocket Man
Philadelphia Freedom
I’m Still Standing
Crocodile Rock

Billy Joel
Angry Young Man
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Allentown
Zanzibar
She’s Always a Woman
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Purple Haze
River of Dreams
We Didn’t Start the Fire
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
Only the Good Die Young

EJ/BJ Encore
I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues
Uptown Girl
The Bitch is Back
You May Be Right
Bennie and the Jets

EJ/BJ without Bands (Encore)
Candle in the Wind (with amp issue)
Piano Man