This past weekend was a busy one locally with numerous events taking place. But I was only around for a couple of them.
When planning for last weekend started about nine months ago, I figured I’d be missing out on a few things. I didn’t realize exactly how many events I would miss. But I wouldn’t trade any of them for the weekend my wife, Maren and I had.
It was a too rare occasion in 40-some years of working either in the newspaper or radio business or now here on Substack, I chose to leave what was happening behind in favor of some me (or actually, we) time.
The plan for last weekend had a bit of a negative start as it began last November while spending nine days at Sanford Jackson Medical Center with COVID and pneumonia.
For some reason a couple of notices popped up on Facebook about Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks touring together. Then while watching the Chiefs-Jaguars game on Sunday Night Football, I noticed on the ribbon scoreboards: “Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks, Aug. 19, 2023.
Now I was already thinking about buying concert tickets as a Christmas present. To that point the leading candidates had been a Chicago concert in Des Mones in April or John Mellencamp (Johnny Cougar?, John Cougar?, John Cougar Mellencamp?) in Minneapolis in May.
I took spotting that scoreboard on TV as a sign that it had to happen. The destination was going to be about twice as far as the others. Kansas City it was.
I went online and bought the tickets and printed the confirmation email out since physical tickets are no longer a thing. Can’t remember exactly how I packaged it, but I put the confirmation and a couple of the cassettes shown below in a Christmas bag and gave it to Maren.
I’m certain that at some point I had at least a couple Fleetwood Mac tapes, but I don’t know what happened to them.
After Christmas the wait was underway for Aug. 19.
TV ANNOUNCER GUY VOICE: Due to time constraints, we move ahead in the action.
We’ll skip over most of the details of the trip though Iowa that saw us spend time on gravel roads. At one point as we made a right turn from one gravel road to another, we saw one lone cow. There was no fence to keep it off the road and there were no other cows in sight. We’re always going to wonder what happened with that cow.
I did all the driving and had a lovely, excellent navigator.
There was one tense moment as we were getting close to Kansas City.
At one point I was certain that we needed to be in the left lane so we could veer to the left.
That was the moment when the navigator (with her left hand) pointed to the left and said in an excited voice “RIGHT!”
She could have calmly said something to the effect of:
“You’re doing an excellent job dear. You are in the correct lane.”
Or
“Thank you, sweetheart, for doing a fine job driving and are doing your best so that we may arrive safely. That is the proper lane for us to be in at this moment as we continue to navigate toward our destination.”
Instead, she chose to point to the left and say “RIGHT!”
But I digress.
After another trip to the Worthington hospital in April (this time for pneumonia and heart issues) pretty much wiped out my PTO, what started as a possible five-day trip was condensed to three. And a big chunk of two those days was six hours of driving.
Instead of doing several things in KC, our schedule limited us to two. Prior to the concert we visited the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. I’ll possibly share some details on that on another day. I’ll stick to the concert this time around.
The other time we were at the site of the concert the stadium was called Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs. You know it’s been a while since we’ve been there because the Chiefs opponent that day was the Houston Oilers. And Warren Moon was playing quarterback for the Oilers.
It’s now called GEHA Field At Arrowhead.
Joel and Nicks may seem to make an odd combination with his persona of Mr. New York and her laid-back west coast cool. Each started having their hits heard on the radio (still predominately AM Radio) in the mid-1970s.
Nicks was on Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” that was named album of the year at the Grammy Awards in 1978. Joel won the same award with “52nd Street” in 1980.
Who won in between? Glad you asked. It was the soundtrack to “Saturday Night Fever.”
Stevie Nicks took the stage first. She opened with “Outside the Rain” and followed with “Dreams”, and “If Anyone Falls,” and “Bella Donna.”
She then talked about how the late Tom Petty and how he saved ‘Bella Donna’ from the studio scrap room by giving her one of his songs.
Nicks’ producer said the album needed a single, and Petty brought her the fully completed version of “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” and he also did vocals.
Petty passed away in 2017, but on this night, it so happened that one of the few singers that could fill his role was backstage. At that point Billy Joel emerged, wearing a Chiefs cap and sang the verses that were recorded by Petty.
Nicks shared several stories and joked, “I don’t ever keep anything short,” as she revealed tidbits of her life behind the iconic songs, the ones from her solo career and with Fleetwood Mac. She included a call to action to vote before covering Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” written in 1967 by Stephen Stills.
The 75-year-old Nicks admitted that she never voted until she was 70.
After performing “Gypsy” to the delight of the hundreds (actually likely thousands) either wearing a gypsy costume (or at least a Gypsy T-shirt like Maren), Nicks covered a second Tom Petty song, “Free Fallin.” That song was accompanied by a montage of photos of Petty and Nicks on the giant screens.
She then performed “Stand Back,” “Gold Dust Woman,” “Sara,” and “Edge of Seventeen.”
Stevie came back for two encores songs, “Rhiannon” and “Landslide.” The final number featured a montage of photos of her and the late Christine McVie, who passed away last November,
Billy Joel started his set with “My Life.”.
He then said good news and bad news. “I’ll start with the bad news. The bad news is we have nothing new to play,” Joel joked. “The good news is you won’t hear anything new that you don’t know.”
Joel then played “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song).”
The 74-year-old Joel has not recorded new music since 1993 after the release of his 12th studio album, ‘River of Dreams.’
He has continued touring in those 30 years including appearing once a month at Madison Square Garden since 2014, a streak that he will end in 2024.
Appropriately enough given where he was performing (and as he admitted in cheap bid for applause) he did a cover of Little Willie Littlefield’s “Kansas City.”
That was followed by “Vienna,” and “Zanzibar.”
Joel joked as he stood up from the piano that he was no Mick Jagger, at which point the band went into a partial cover of “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones and he strutted around the stage impersonating and holding his mic stand.
Joel showcased each musician in his band and showcased their talent, and there was plenty.
Percussionist, backup singer, and saxophone player Crystal Taliefero belted out a cover of Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High” and absolutely wowed the crowd.
In a dramatic change of pace, guitar player and backing volcanist Mike DelGuidice sang “Nessun dorma”
For those that don’t know, "Nessun dorma" is an aria from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot and one of the best-known tenor arias in all opera. It is sung by Calaf, il principe ignoto, who falls in love at first sight with the beautiful but cold Princess Turandot. I may have used Wikipedia for that sentence.
From opera, DelGuidice seamlessly transitioned into Led Zeppelin’s Rock And Roll. Maren commented that she would gladly to go to a concert featuring either one of them.
The attention then went back to Joel.
He made another of his several jokes about age going into “An Innocent Man” He said he never would have written the song if had had known he was going to still be singing it 40 years later.
He said he was worried about hitting the song’s high notes. “Please pray for me” he said. And then he nailed them all flawlessly.
Joel continued to roll through his hits:
Don’t Ask Me Why
Just the Way You Are
Allentown
Only the Good Die Young
The River of Dreams
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Piano Man
Most of us have been in a situation where there’s been a sing-along of “Piano Man,” whether it be karaoke at your favorite watering hole, a wedding reception or whatever the case might be. For us at least, it was the first time being part of a sing-along involving 40,000 singers.
Okay, full discloser. It was 39,999. I did not sing. I just stood and enjoyed the moment.
After “Piano Man,” Joel returned for a not one, not two, not three, not four, but a five-song encore.
It was more than a little hard to believe how many people left without waiting for that encore.
I’m now sure how could you go to a Billy Joel concert and leave thinking you weren’t going to hear:
We Didn’t Start the Fire
Uptown Girl
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
Big Shot
You May Be Right
It was a great night to see the two legends. Not long after buying the tickets for Kansas City it was announced that they had added a show at U.S. Bank Stadium for Nov. 10 if you’re interested in seeing them there.
I talked with someone Monday interested in purchasing tickets to that Minneapolis show.
You’re on your own, but if you did want to go to see the two icons live, I will put his out there if you’re a supporter of the Jackson County Central football team: Do your research.
As the trip was winding down Maren issued the challenge: “How are you going to top this for a Christmas present this year?” I had no choice but to accept the challenge. Keep me in your thoughts these next four months.