My Review of Hall and Oates at Jones Beach on Long Island

On Saturday June 11th, Hall and Oates performed their classic hits at Long Island's famed Jones Beach Amphitheater for a less than sell out crowd.

The sparse crowd could partially be blamed on the inclement weather.  It was drizzling throughout most of Hall & Oates' set and Chris Isaak's opening set.   In my experience, the rain adds something to the show.  Some of the best concerts I've ever attended at Jone Beach were in the rain.  For one, the people that come to the show truly want to be there for the music and are into the show from the beginning.  And second, the rain creates a bond between the concert goers because we are all battling the same harsh conditions.   Aside from Madison Square Garden, Jone Beach is the best place to see a show for ambiance in my opinion.  And when it rains, there is no better.

Chris Isaak did not impress me with his opening set.  I really do not know too many songs from his catalog, with the exception of "I Want to Fall In Love" and that is mostly because of the video with that unbelievably sexy woman he had in it.  He played mostly covers.  The biggest surprise was  the theme song to HBO's "True Blood" called "Bad Things,"  which was a Jace Everett cover.  It sounded great.

Hall and Oates came out soon after to a slowed down version of "Maneater."   They sounded great and their saxophonist Charlie Dechant  and his pink suit was amazing.  I love hearing somebody play the saxophone live.  It seems to be a lost instrument in this day and age.  The only disappointment in their set was that it was only 1.5 hours and they did not play "Private Eyes".  You do forget how many good songs the duo have in their catalog and we did not even realize they had not played "Private Eyes" until someone mentioned it in passing as we were walking out of the the ampitheatre.

All in all, it was a great show.  It was Jones Beach and it marked the first concert of the summer.  can't go wrong with that.  Next up the SoundGarden reunion tour in July.  More to come...

#45: Billy Joel @ Wrigey Field

#45: Wrigley Field

July, 21st, 2009

Unbelievable Show. Great vacation. 1st time at Wrigley. Sitting in centerfield was great.  Stole a piece of the ivy.  So nice to get away and not have to worry about work for the 1st time in awhile. Thank you to everyone at Advanced who allowed that to happen.

We got to Chicago on Monday afternoon. Concert was Tuesday. Longest wait for the show.

Sat 3rd row center section. Just in front of Elton's piano. It was my 45th show but my 1st fight at a Billy Joel concert. Some fans of Elton John who were sitting in front of us were very intoxicated. The took exception to our cheering and yelling. Told my girlfriend that she has to shut up because his ears were hurting when she was cheering. He was 2nd row center at the concert, how could we be hurting his ears? Security had to pull them out when they became belligerent. They tossed there be over me as a last ditch effort to get me to swing. I know that if that had happened anyplace else in the world, I might have swung. But nobody was getting me out of that seat and ruining the concert for my girlfriend. She had never sat that close at a show. And seriously, who gets into a fight at a Billy Joel/Elton John show? All three were over 45. Pure comedy. The section cheered and congratulated us when they left. They were annoying everyone.

Here are my pics and videos from that night. Sorry for the camera work on the videos. It was exuberance mixed with Margarettas.

Videos

Scenes From An Italian Restaurant

Bennie and the Jets

We Didn't Start the Fire

Piano Man