Billy Joel on why he holds front row tickets at his concerts: “It turns out the real fans were always in the back of the room in the worst seats. We now hold those tickets, and I send my crew out to the back of the room when the audience comes in and they get them and bring ’em in to the front row”
Went on a whim to see him a few years back and still one of my favorite concerts! We were in the nosebleeds but the entire section was dancing and singing along to every song. 10/10 experience
DearPaleontologist67 on
That’s *literally* every (poor) concert-goers dream (like myself).
Sleepy-Giraffe947 on
I’ve heard about Bill Joel doing this before and he’s a real one for it! Tickets these days are ridiculous. There’s so many artists I’d love to see, but bills and other adult responsibilities take precedence.
Stinkycheese8001 on
He’s really close to the root cause.
Ticketmaster has their own resale service. So they make money on both the original sale and the re-sale. (Edit: I initially said they owned StubHub because I am a dope).
Artists have a pretty decent amount of input into how their tickets are sold, too. They don’t have to allow dynamic pricing, re-sales, super high ticket prices. Ticketmaster is the devil but part of that is because artists let them be.
catharsisdusk on
It’s a sweet sentiment. But I paid $600 to see Gorillaz from the Pit. And that’s not a small amount to me. But I’ve been listening to them for 25+ years now and have always wanted to see them live. I’d be PISSED if they started dragging people up from the nosebleeds to supplant the spot I paid so dearly for.
EagleEyezzzzz on
Billy Joel, MVP
TrueCrimeInTheBuff on
👍 excellent
Iron Maiden did this for my husband and me a couple of decades ago. We were seated in the crappy nosebleeds with a blocked view and were among the first 20 people inside the venue. They sent someone out to collect all the early fans and moved us in to the pit. It actually happened twice. We ended up right on the rail near dead center. 👏
Groundbreaking_War52 on
We strictly do 80s Joel music, sir
OvulatingWildly on
I worked in this industry for a long time and it’s so nice to real fans up there in the front rows instead of just bored rich people
Cool_Jelly_9402 on
So now I know to book the cheapest tickets and hope I get moved to the most expensive ones lol but seriously that is quite nice of him. I heard he puts on a great show
No_Pianist5264 on
This is pretty cool he know where the real fans are at
Lowly-Worm_ on
This is why we sit at the bar and put bread in his jar
xvsanx on
wholesome
SixtyNoine69 on
Can’t stand Billy Joel, have met him several times and he’s absolutely a dick, but I’ve always loved and respected the hell out of this move of his. He’s been doing it a long time and it’s easily one of the coolest things an artist can do.
BishlovesSquish on
Love it! This should be the norm, not the exception.
manhattansinks on
love him. i was lucky enough to see him and elton john tour together when i was younger.
he also makes it a point to sing as many songs as possible to play all his classics because he “knows what people are there to see”
Twitter_2006 on
That’s really awesome.
ilysmtihmh81 on
This happened to an acquaintance of mine who was a huge Billy Joel fan!
Individual-Rip-2366 on
This is nice, and it’s remarkable how often Billy’s biggest fans are beautiful women!
JoleneDollyParton on
He’s a real one.
Glad-Veterinarian365 on
Bring a tear to me eye
suz_gee on
I love this! Last fall, we took our teenager to see his absolute favorite musician and idol, Charley Crockett. We got the cheapest seats – general admission lawn – and got there at doors so he could get in the front of GA. Lots of people were sitting, but my teen was standing pressed against the fence, singing every word just having the best night of his life. A security guard pulled him aside and gave him a wrist band to the pit and I haven’t seen him that excited since he was a little kid – just that pure joy that goes away as you age. He was wearing a giant cowboy hat and we could see that he got to the very front of the pit and i am actually still tearing up typing this, it was hands down the most memorable night of his life so far, and the opener got to have a SUPER FAN in the front row, and I got to see my way-too-cool-teenager look like a little kid again as he ran to the front of a venue.
Stuff like this really means so much and I love that artists are intentionally doing it
llandthejam on
This is lovely
Crafty-Judge-896 on
He’s so right! Every time I have amazing concert seats the people around me absolutely suck. I was lucky and got 5th row to eras tour and I kid you not everyone around me was sitting, not singing, just killing the vibe
VampireOnHoyt on
Shout out to the two guys next to us in the nosebleeds at a Billy Joel concert in SLC about a decade ago who were obviously there on a first date and were holding hands and singing “Piano Man” together by the end of the show. Hope your story turned out amazing.
Atlien1130 on
This happened to some friends and I in 2007ish. We went from nosebleed seats to front row center, and it was incredible.
tardisintheparty on
Taylor Swift used to do this before all the Era’s Tour craziness. My best friend and I got moved from the absolute worst nosebleeds to the pit by her team on the 1989 tour!! It was fucking awesome
shoetingstar on
This is wonderful. Sounds like He actually appreciates his fans and isn’t completely out of touch.
lol_nahh on
This is true and happened to me!
My first concert was in the staples center, I had nose bleeds with my parents.
Someone came and gave us floor tickets for being “real fans”. We thought it was a scam until we were 2 rows from the stage.
Half way through the show we got to stand by the stage, and I got my hand stepped on by Billy at 17!
31 Comments
Absolutely based ❤️
Went on a whim to see him a few years back and still one of my favorite concerts! We were in the nosebleeds but the entire section was dancing and singing along to every song. 10/10 experience
That’s *literally* every (poor) concert-goers dream (like myself).
I’ve heard about Bill Joel doing this before and he’s a real one for it! Tickets these days are ridiculous. There’s so many artists I’d love to see, but bills and other adult responsibilities take precedence.
He’s really close to the root cause.
Ticketmaster has their own resale service. So they make money on both the original sale and the re-sale. (Edit: I initially said they owned StubHub because I am a dope).
Artists have a pretty decent amount of input into how their tickets are sold, too. They don’t have to allow dynamic pricing, re-sales, super high ticket prices. Ticketmaster is the devil but part of that is because artists let them be.
It’s a sweet sentiment. But I paid $600 to see Gorillaz from the Pit. And that’s not a small amount to me. But I’ve been listening to them for 25+ years now and have always wanted to see them live. I’d be PISSED if they started dragging people up from the nosebleeds to supplant the spot I paid so dearly for.
Billy Joel, MVP
👍 excellent
Iron Maiden did this for my husband and me a couple of decades ago. We were seated in the crappy nosebleeds with a blocked view and were among the first 20 people inside the venue. They sent someone out to collect all the early fans and moved us in to the pit. It actually happened twice. We ended up right on the rail near dead center. 👏
We strictly do 80s Joel music, sir
I worked in this industry for a long time and it’s so nice to real fans up there in the front rows instead of just bored rich people
So now I know to book the cheapest tickets and hope I get moved to the most expensive ones lol but seriously that is quite nice of him. I heard he puts on a great show
This is pretty cool he know where the real fans are at
This is why we sit at the bar and put bread in his jar
wholesome
Can’t stand Billy Joel, have met him several times and he’s absolutely a dick, but I’ve always loved and respected the hell out of this move of his. He’s been doing it a long time and it’s easily one of the coolest things an artist can do.
Love it! This should be the norm, not the exception.
love him. i was lucky enough to see him and elton john tour together when i was younger.
he also makes it a point to sing as many songs as possible to play all his classics because he “knows what people are there to see”
That’s really awesome.
This happened to an acquaintance of mine who was a huge Billy Joel fan!
This is nice, and it’s remarkable how often Billy’s biggest fans are beautiful women!
He’s a real one.
Bring a tear to me eye
I love this! Last fall, we took our teenager to see his absolute favorite musician and idol, Charley Crockett. We got the cheapest seats – general admission lawn – and got there at doors so he could get in the front of GA. Lots of people were sitting, but my teen was standing pressed against the fence, singing every word just having the best night of his life. A security guard pulled him aside and gave him a wrist band to the pit and I haven’t seen him that excited since he was a little kid – just that pure joy that goes away as you age. He was wearing a giant cowboy hat and we could see that he got to the very front of the pit and i am actually still tearing up typing this, it was hands down the most memorable night of his life so far, and the opener got to have a SUPER FAN in the front row, and I got to see my way-too-cool-teenager look like a little kid again as he ran to the front of a venue.
Stuff like this really means so much and I love that artists are intentionally doing it
This is lovely
He’s so right! Every time I have amazing concert seats the people around me absolutely suck. I was lucky and got 5th row to eras tour and I kid you not everyone around me was sitting, not singing, just killing the vibe
Shout out to the two guys next to us in the nosebleeds at a Billy Joel concert in SLC about a decade ago who were obviously there on a first date and were holding hands and singing “Piano Man” together by the end of the show. Hope your story turned out amazing.
This happened to some friends and I in 2007ish. We went from nosebleed seats to front row center, and it was incredible.
Taylor Swift used to do this before all the Era’s Tour craziness. My best friend and I got moved from the absolute worst nosebleeds to the pit by her team on the 1989 tour!! It was fucking awesome
This is wonderful. Sounds like He actually appreciates his fans and isn’t completely out of touch.
This is true and happened to me!
My first concert was in the staples center, I had nose bleeds with my parents.
Someone came and gave us floor tickets for being “real fans”. We thought it was a scam until we were 2 rows from the stage.
Half way through the show we got to stand by the stage, and I got my hand stepped on by Billy at 17!