Photo: Sebastian Condrea / Moment / Getty Images
The cost of concert tickets today is astronomical. BUT what are you to do when one of your favorite musical icons is celebrating his 100th sold-out appearance at the legendary Madison Square Garden in NYC? You watch it on TV! With prohibitive costs and the inconvenience of navigating parking, eating, etc., Billy Joel thought he was doing a service to his long time fan faithful's. CBS, the perennial "old folks" network offered up the sell-out performance for some cool home viewing. It seemed like a perfect fit. Joel, a heavy-hitter performer from the days of 52nd Street classics in the 70's and 80's to today could be considered a "geriatric rocker". AND to do this for fans without a ticket to the show, was a 74-year old local boy done good class gesture. BUT concert fans got screwed with "geriatric" programming like Masters GOLF and then 60 Minutes. Prime time Billy joined late to the dismay of longtime fans and only to be chopped off at 11pm for the Local News join. Like WHO watches the late local news on a Sunday night? Like, NO one. IF the network honchos were smart, they would have treated the concert telecast like golf or a Super Bowl game then run it's local programming afterwards, pre-empted. I believe the 11:00 news would have actually got some viewership from excited fans not ready to turn it for the night? Billy Joel turns 75 years old on May 9th. I wonder if he stays up to watch the 11 O'clock news?