Music

Radio Free Mattopia: You won't fool the children of the revolution. (T-Rex)

Billy Joel, Don Henley, Sting
The Concerts for Walden Woods
22 October 1991
Madison Square Garden
New York, New York, USA

It was quite a thrill to find out Billy Joel was performing at a Walden Woods benefit concert at Madison Sqare Garden. That show rounded out what I affectionately refer to as my "Billy Joel New York Trilogy," having seen him at Yankee Stadium (second night, nosebleeds) and Giants Stadium (on the field, tickets given to me while hanging out at the gate) during the Storm Front tour in 1990.

I walked out of the Garden with more fantastic memories and more stories to tell.

Sting performed his half-hour set while the crowd was still arriving. He received a polite little smattering of applause.

Then came Don Henley, the mastermind behind the gig. He didn't endear himself to the crowd. He disappeared once or twice behind a curtain; seems to me he was grabbing a bite to eat. He also made a disparaging remark about how New York was exactly as he remembered it. I can't recall exactly what he said, but I do remember the crowd's booing response of disapproval. Dude, you didn't say much. But what you did say was insulting. That ain't cool. That ain't rock 'n' roll.

So Don left after a roughly 45-minute set. It might've been a full hour. I still need to check out the The Young Mattopia Jones Chronicles: The New York Years from the Mattsonian to verify some of the details.

But all that's neither here nor there.

The night was all about William Martin Joel.

After a build up of anticipation in the arena, Billy stormed the stage.

Good God almighty! What a tour de force! He ripped through one hit after another with such awesome gusto! And I remember the full beard he was sportin'.

I was up in the nosebleeds and the floor was shaking so much, I didn't even have to jump up and down; the floor was moving me all on its own. It's a wonder the Garden didn't collapse on itself given the explosive energy supplied by Billy - and the crowd, moi included.

Needless to say, the audience's reception of Billy, a hometown hero, was downright euphoric. That was a performance I will never, ever forget.

Walden Woods ticket stub
The ticket stub.
Yeah, $35 to see Billy, Don, and Sting.

Walden Woods brochure cover
Cover of the benefit concert souvenir brochure

Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden
This crummy picture, taken from the upper level with a
point-and-shoot 35mm Pentax camera, meant so much to me.
It's Billy Joel at the piano!
It'd be numerous more concerts spanning 19 years
before I'd get the chance to take a few
halfway-decent photos of Billy... and Elton John.