Last Friday night on BBC4 there was a Joel gig from Leningrad which was staged at the time of Gorbachev and Glasnost. For the younger members here it was a time when the cold war began to ease in tension and there was a degree of liberation within the Iron Curtain. I did not realise back in c.1985 the importance of this particular tour and found the evening very informative. The gig is available on iplayer and includes great tracks like Longest Night, Only the Good Die Young, Innocent Man, Angry Young Man, Honesty and Uptown Girl and was preceded at 9p.m. by a documentary about the tour, making 2 1/2 hours of quality entertainment. For any Joel fans this is a must see and for people interested in modern history there is also a lot to learn about the transformation in global relationships in the last 30 years. Apologies for this being a bit left field but hope that you don't mind.
The fact that you have correctly titled it as O/T makes it perfectly acceptable and very informative! Thank you!
Thanks Thurnby - didn't realise it was on - I will certainly watch it. Quite like some of Joel's stuff - "Only the good die young", "We didn't start the fire" and "Downeaster Alexa" being my personal favourites.
He had a great range of stuff OCF and for me Piano Man was an absolute classic and Scenes From An Italian Restaurant are probably my tops
Good post Thurnby. I find that BBC3 and 4 are far better than 1 and 2 and are the only Channels that get me away from Sky Sports and Sky Arts. To me modern music started with the likes of Carl Perkins and finished with the demise of the likes of Gene Vincent and apart from a few groups like Kiss and Judas Priest I have stuck to Classical music ever since. I wouldn't know Billy Joel if he walked through my front door but it might not be a bad idea for him to do another gig in Russia now to try and stop Putin taking us back to where we were before 1985.
more of a 4 man myself although love Gavin & Stacey on 3. BBC 2 has the odd decent show, BBC 1 is shocking
Make the most of BBC3 while you can 1950, the Beeb are going to ditch it soon as part of their cost cutting measures.
I'm afraid that this sums up our Nation today. Ditch BBC3 because of low audience because most people want to watch Eastenders and Celebrity mud wrestling on ice. I despair!!!
After the football finished on ITV on Saturday (Argentina v Iran) , the pub I was in left the tv tuned to the odious channel and there was a whole ****ing hour of the rehashed slapstick total bullshit that is 'You've been framed' I mean, as a nation, is that really to be considered 'prime time' television? I despair Plus it's almost July, time for Simon Cowell to line his pockets with the usual array of talentless wannabe karaoke singers making twats of themselves on BGT and / or X factor. Shockingly poor tv - but with ludicrously high ratings, sadly
You've been framed is the absolute nadir. Banal voiceover combined with canned laughter over little kids falling off their bikes and hurting themselves!
Personally I cant stand Billy Joel and his music but unfortunately the Missus loves the bones off him! All that "Up Town Girl" garbage! I put my foot down when it came to naming our boys. She wanted to call them "Billy" and "Joel" I wanted to call them "Luther" and "Vandross" in the end we compromised on "Nathan" and "Curtis"!
