I am so fortunate to have family who loves spending time with Ian and Samantha. Each year I bring them to Orlando and let the kids stay a few weeks without Jeff and me. I took them down on Tuesday, July 22nd and came back to Virginia on Friday, July 25th. The kids will come home either on August 7th or August 8th, depending on if Mom and Jim do the drive straight-thru or stop overnight. The kids have split their stay among the 3 families; Mom/Jim, Dad/Rita and Lori/Ben/Rachel. Each house offers them something unique. I believe all 3 places are their favorites!! It's a great situation and I feel so blessed my kids have amazing relatives on both their mom (me) and dad's (Jeff) side.
Jeff came up with a great plan for the hours leading up to the concert. Park the car at Nationals Park and pick up the wrist bands (to access our FIELD SEATS!!!). We would then take the metro a few stops away to Gallery Place and have dinner at Rosa Mexicana. As I had given our first set of tickets I bought to Kelly, she and her husband were able to join us for dinner. We took the metro back to the stadium and still had plenty of time to get to our seats (and of course, buy a t-shirt, a bottle of water and hit the bathrooms). The timing was perfect and having a parking spot so close to the exit (that's what happens when you arrive at 4:45pm for an 8:00pm concert) made it easy-breezy to get out and home when the show was over.
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| Getting our wristbands. I felt like a celebrity going in the tent to pick it up. |
I am embarrassed to admit I didn't know who the opening act was. Gavin Degraw is not a name I am familiar with and initially thought he was a country singer. I asked Heather about him and she set me straight. He plays Top 40/pop music. It turns out that I do know Gavin. In fact every song he played for his opening set was a song I knew very well. Each song I thought was done by some other group. Ha! Gavin was great and I now have a new appreciation for his music.
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| That's Gavin Degraw. Now I know. :) |
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| Right before the show. |
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| People will be in all those seats. Wow! |
At 9:00pm Billy came on the stage and played until 11:15pm, NON-STOP!! He played all his hits and then some. 23 songs!!! That's craziness!!! I was in heaven!! At 65 years old, Billy has still got it. The weather could not have been more perfect. There was no humidity and at times, even a light breeze was felt. We had two seats at the end of the aisle. I think it helped greatly with Jeff enjoying the show too. He didn't feel crammed in.
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| When he sang the song "Big Shot" he put on the Washington Nationals hat. |
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| During the song "Goodnight Saigon", Billy brought on a dozen or so veterans. He is just that cool.  holding up their cell phone flashlights. How cool! |
As we were walking to get the wrist bands I started getting nervous. I so badly wanted to enjoy the evening. This summer has been amazing so far (it feels surreal all the fabulous events that have taken place and are still to come). I always have high expectations and try not to get disappointed. I can say with a big smile on my face, the evening was absolutely perfect. The weather, the seats, my date, the music, dinner beforehand with great friends....I wouldn't have changed a thing.
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| AMAZING!!
BILLY JOEL'S SONG LIST:
A Matter of Trust
Pressure The Entertainer An Innocent Man Zanzibar New York State of Mind Downeaster Alexa Movin' Out Goodnight Saigon (14 veterans came out on stage to sing along) Allentown My Life She's Always a Woman We Didn't Start the Fire Highway to Hell (sung by longtime roadie Chainsaw) Don't Ask Me Why Scenes From an Italian Restaurant River of Dreams (morphed into Summer in the City briefly) Piano Man
Encore:
Uptown Girl
It's Still Rock and Roll to Me Big Shot You May Be Right Only the Good Die Young |
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