It was a week that saw major shakeups in the live music industry, as the rapid spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant convinced many major touring artists, concert venues and even concert promotion behemoths Live Nation and AEG to adopt stricter admission policies, including vaccinated-only and masking protocols.
But as that week crawled to a close Saturday, a large crowd gathered at Highmark Stadium to welcome Billy Joel for a makeup concert following his postponed summer 2020 date at that venue. If you didn’t know better, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we were living in the relatively carefree August of 2019, rather than enduring a prolonged pandemic in 2021.
Despite the major nationwide changes in concert protocols in the days leading up to the show, the admission policy at Highmark Stadium for the Joel concert was fairly loose. Masks were required of patrons when they were entering the show, throughout the concourse area, in the restrooms, or anywhere else deemed to be “indoors.” Once attendees were at their seats, no masks were required of the vaccinated. The unvaccinated were expected to wear masks, based solely on the honor system. No proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test was required. A three-paragraph “Fan Health Promise” was distributed digitally to ticket-holders in advance, which underscored the honor system notion and left the onus of responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the concertgoer.
People are also reading…
For a clearly live music-starved crowd willing to accept these rules of engagement, a hit- and deep cut-heavy set of gems from Joel’s estimable songbook – and a rapturously received guest feature that found Goo Goo Dolls singer/guitarist John Rzeznik performing “Iris” with Billy and the band – was their reward.
Many fans made a day of it, arriving at 4 p.m. as the gates at One Bills Drive opened. Shortly thereafter, school bus shuttles began arriving in cycles, dropping concert-goers in various lots. By 5 p.m., three hours before showtime, the barbecues were blazing and tailgating was in full swing.
I walked the grounds as the parking lots filled up, talking to people from as much of a distance as I could maintain, and enduring only a few “Hey, you don’t need to wear that outside, you know” comments directed toward the mask I was wearing.
Most folks I encountered simply seemed thrilled to be attending the first major concert of this size in Western New York since the beginning of the pandemic. And the majority also seemed to have pushed alarming reports of the spreading of new variants – and indeed, the entire pandemic itself – far from their minds, at least for the evening.
That wasn’t the case with all of them, however.
“Yes, I do feel weird about going to the show tonight, given the recent Delta spread,” Scott DeMayo of Buffalo told me before entering the venue. “I would feel much more comfortable being in such a large crowd if the county had required proof of vaccination or a negative test. I'm sure Billy Joel will be his usual fantastic self, but this will be in the back of my mind all night.”
Conversely, Dave Loss, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist with Buffalo groove rock ambassadors Aqueous, attended the show with his wife, Jackie, and felt perfectly comfortable doing so.
“I don’t have any concerns, as far as safety goes,” he told me. “I feel confident everyone working at the stadium will do their part to keep all the concert-goers safe.”
“We bonded over his music when we first met and both realized what big fans we were,” Jackie Loss recalled. “We were lucky to see him at Madison Square Garden and it was amazing to see Billy perform in his hometown. And now we get to see him in our home stadium. His music has always meant a lot to us and to our relationship.”
The Loss’ enthusiasm for Joel’s body of work was mirrored by an exuberant audience that, according to concertgoer Kristen Kimmick of Buffalo, appeared to be at or very close to capacity, despite the fact that Joel fans from north of the border, who would quite likely flock in some significant numbers to a show like this one in normal times, were not able to attend due to the border closing.
“My friend Bill just said, ’It’s impressive that it looks sold out and probably is, even though there is no Southern Ontario market to draw from,’” Kimmick told me via text, minutes before the show started. “He’s right – this place is packed to the brim!”
For Kimmick, the Joel concert fulfilled a longtime wish.
“I’ve never seen him live before,” she said. “My dad raised me on his generation of music, and he’s been near the top of my bucket list for awhile, so I’ve been completely stoked for this.”
For Kimmick, DeMayo and Dave and Jackie Loss, the Rzeznik cameo was a major highlight of what they all considered a very strong show.
“I didn’t see that coming,” DeMayo said. “What a Western New York moment that was.”
“It’s been a fun show and he and the band are still top notch,” DeMayo told me, mid-show. “It’s really amazing how great his voice still is. And I'm happy to hear so many album deep cuts. He really does have a fantastic catalog.”
For DeMayo, however, as positive a musical experience as the Joel show was, the underlying reality of the present moment was not something that could be ignored.
“I've been going to concerts since 1977,” DeMayo told me the morning after the concert. “It's always been my favorite thing to do.
“Something has changed, though, currently. Any way you cut it, there was a small percentage of risk involved in going last night. I had a feeling that people would not follow the mask guidelines, as lame as they were, and boy, was I right. Government, in my opinion, needs to stop sending mixed messages and go all in on requiring a vaccination or negative Covid test for entry to every event. Without that, I feel like I'm playing Covid lottery in a big crowd. And that's one lottery you don't want to win.
“With that in my mind, I could not fully enjoy the show, as great as the performance was.”
