Old-Timer Gigs for "Old-Timers".

Following on from the popularity of my review of Glastonbury a few weeks ago, I thought it was worth putting a short piece together about my experiences at the British Summer Time (BST) concerts at Hyde Park in London this year. I've been going to BST for a few years now (pre and post Covid), and this year I had the pleasure of seeing three "old-timers" play - Guns 'n Roses, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen. Here are my (old-timer) thoughts on the gigs.

Guns 'n Roses - Friday 30th June.

So as a disclaimer, I was never really a big fan of Guns 'n Roses, but a better than expected performance at Glastonbury, and ex-colleague and five-a-side buddy Mark Beaumont convinced me to get a ticket. I have to say, like after seeing Pearl Jam last year (who I was always neutral on before the gig), I came away with a huge smile on my face and a view that they are a truly great live rock act. They showed up on time (after a great support slot from The Pretenders) and played a slightly longer set than Glastonbury. Slash is clearly one of the best guitarists of his generation and has lost none of his showmanship over the years, and Axl's clean living (against image) clearly allows him to sprint around stage, even if a little bit of rain had him slipping around occasionally. Axl's voice clearly struggles with the higher numbers (a natural part of aging), and if he couldn't quite manage the high notes during the double header of "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "November Rain" the audience more than made up for it. They already deliver the definitive cover versions of "Live & Let Die", and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", and they repeated the UK Subs "Down on the Farm" which they (ironically?) performed at Glastonbury, all to great effect. Finishing on "Paradise City" having been on stage for almost 3 hours with no break, heads fuzzy with a few too many beers, I thanked Mark for persuading me to come along to a great gig. Finally - a big thanks to Robert Costantino Pastore - who I randomly bumped into at the show - for his amazing photo of Slash that I borrowed.

Billy Joel - Friday 7th July.

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Billy Joel ever since he released the album "An Innocent Man" back in 1983. His "Greatest Hits" double album is a common listen for me, and the opportunity to see him play some of these standards live urged me to go and buy a ticket. Fortunately (for once), I was early and got a ticket for the gold section at the front of the standing area, something which I need to bear in mind for future years when I attend (in the "regular" section the stage can be difficult to actually see from most spots - although the large screens make up for that). Mark had already been to see him earlier in the year at Madison Square Garden, so I was very excited from his glowing review. It was a beautiful London evening having been almost 30C earlier in the day, with even Billy commenting that he'd never been at a concert with so much blinding sun (London indeed!). He also gave us the bad news / good news at the beginning of any concert that we all want to hear - the bad news is we've got no new material to play for you - the good news is we've got no new material to play for you! So, we ended up with a 2 hour set covering 23 tracks of which 17 were his major hits.

With a concert covering pretty much all the greatest hits it's always difficult to pick a highlight, but the ending of the main set was "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" and "Piano Man", both as good story telling songs as you can get, and both as blistering hot as the weather was earlier. The encore included "Uptown Girl" duetted with Joe Jonas which had the whole audience dancing along. It's 50 years since Billy released his first major album "Piano Man" and following his upcoming residency at Madison Square Garden it will be interesting to see if he does any more "big" tours like this. I'm glad I got the opportunity to see this true entertainer.

Bruce Springsteen - Thursday 6th July & Saturday 8th July.

Bruce Springsteen has always been on my concert wish list. For some reason, despite being a huge fan for almost 40 years I'd never got round to seeing him. Back in 1984 when he released the album "Born in the USA" his stadium credentials were already there and listening to his live performances (particularly the Hammersmith Odeon concert from 1975) made me in no doubt that at some point I had to go and see him. Maybe it was my indifference to his music post "Born in the USA" (although everything prior to that was an incredibly high bar to reach again). I'm not a fan at all of Wembley Arena which will have turned me off some tours. Still, no excuses anymore when he was announced for BST this year. I was annoyed that I missed the main ticketing by a day and ended up buying myself a general entrance ticket as condolence for missing Glastonbury tickets this year... and got more and more excited as the day finally arrived. The weather was great (a little cooler than it would be the next day to see Billy Joel, but that was a good thing) and despite being known for long sets, I was genuinely surprised when he came on stage at a very prompt 7pm.

The next three hours and twenty minutes were one of the best nostalgia trips I've ever had. Over two thirds of the tracks came from albums up to "Born in the USA" and included his biggest hits. His engagement with the crowd was incredible coming right down to the barriers to have people take selfies with him and hand out plectrums to fans. The band was incredibly tight despite the age of some (Bruce is 73, and Little Steve 72, but both looked like they were having the time of their lives joking about the last time they played BST and having the plug pulled on them due to curfew times), and the younger replacements (especially Jake Clemens on Sax, who replaced his uncle Clarence) did a tremendous job. I loved it all, but highlights for me were "My Hometown", "The River" and the last two tracks of the main set "Badlands" and "Thunder Road" - both brought a tear to my eye. They didn't waste any time going off stage before an encore which consisted of "Born in the USA", "Born to Run" (one of my favourite tracks of all-time), "Bobby Jean", "Glory Days", "Dancing in the Dark" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out". What a run-out! A final solo acoustic version of "I'll See You in My Dreams" and it was done. The best concert I've ever seen? Maybe. I would have to think long and hard for one which gave me so much joy and memories of my youth discovering his early albums. Thank you Bruce!

Having enjoyed it so much, I snapped up a resale ticket for his second performance on the Saturday and have to admit being slightly disappointed. I did love seeing "The Chicks" perform (who I missed on Thursday), but despite Bruce's set being just as long, the songs he did change (about 8 of them) we lost some of big hits (although we did get "Darkness on the Edge of Town"). The (relatively light) rain dampened things a little bit as well. Also, the duplication of the story telling did make it feel a little more laboured. I did have a great night, but for me the memory was already made on Thursday. Will we get to see him again on such a big tour performing three hour plus sets again like this? I certainly hope so. But I'm glad I didn't take the chance of not seeing him. For once, a lifetime wish that turned out to be everything I wished for.

Thank you for getting this far on reading my music pieces... They seem popular enough that I might try and keep it up as a more frequent thing, maybe every few months (as well as my year-end "Album of the Year" review). Like and reshare to show your enthusiasm please if you're enjoying them as well.