Painters, Pastas, and Pianos

Several years back one of my friends (the Great Mindella) asked me if I had a list of bands or performers that I wanted to see. I gave her a list of some of the popular groups of the time. After listening to my list, she told me what she really wanted was to know if there was any of those "great" performers that you felt like you HAD to see; either before they couldn't perform any longer or before I am no longer. (Sort of a Music Bucket List) Since that time I have thought of performers/bands since then that I feel like I really NEED to see. Performances I have seen since then that I believe qualify are Aerosmith and Neil Diamond. Well, last night I was able to check off two more on my list.

Over a year ago I first heard of this duo coming to Salt Lake. I was anxious to get my tickets and was extremely excited when I found out Mike, Chris, and my parents would be going as well. It was going to be a Painter Party! The concert was scheduled for the Friday before Thanksgiving. Well, the original day of the concert they canceled due to illness. I was disheartened, but knew they would reschedule. Unfortunately, the day the rescheduled meant Mike would be out of town and unable to attend with us.

Anyway, the day of the rescheduled concert arrived, Mike passed his ticket onto Ali's sister Tori. We gathered for dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square; which is a Painter family favorite. As always, the meal was good and who can leave without finishing up with the Spumoni.

Moments after dinner we were at the Energy Solutions arena, the stage set-up was pretty incredible. It was very classy and I knew we were in for a great show. The duo come onto the stage separately, the crowd roared as Elton John walked out and the applause turned thunderous as Billy Joel made his way onto the stage. They played together for four songs; seeing this was absolutely awe inspiring to me. When they reached the 3rd song, "Don't Let The Sung Go Down On Me" I was just in total amazement. That moment itself was pure music magic. There are no words to describe how I felt.



After one more number, Billy Joel stepped off the stage as Elton went on to play 12 songs. Which included Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Rocket Man, Tiny Dancer and Crocodile Rock. Elton appeared spry and really got into the performance. You couldn't help but stand and cheer for him. At one point I leaned over to Amberle and said "imagine what it would have been like to see him in concert 30 years ago". When he finished his 12 songs Billy Joel returned to the stage.

Billy Joel also played 12 songs. He played some of his lesser known songs and some that showed off his piano abilities. He got my attention with "River of Dreams". He didn't stay at the piano the entire time, he added a guitar to his ensemble as he got the crowd rocking with; "We didn't start the fire". Much to my surprise, I could still sing every word. After Filly Joel finished his set, Elton John returned to the stage and they played 7 more songs, including "Candle in the Wind", "Piano Man" and "The Bitch is Back".

After more than 3 hours they finished up. Despite the late hour, I still hoped for more. The show was incredible, I had a fantastic time and I can absolutely say; this is the best concert I have EVER attended. EVER!