Billy Joel and Elton John coming to Oklahoma City’s Ford Center
Billy Joel and Elton John, the most successful and longest-running concert pairing in pop music history, will bring their wildly successful “Face 2 Face” tour to Oklahoma City’s Ford Center at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 25, according to a news release.
Since kicking off the 2009 “Face 2 Face” tour in March 2009, the duo has performed more than 40 sold-out concerts in front of nearly three-quarters of a million people.
Joel and John open the concert with a series of duets, playing twin pianos and trading vocals. Each artist then performs a set with his own band. A grand finale brings the two superstars and their supporting musicians back together for a closing encore. This includes some of both Joel and John’s greatest hits along with an unpredictable selection of rock ‘n’ roll classics.
Tickets for the Ford Center show go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at all Ticketmaster locations; www.ticketmaster.com; www.livenation.com; the Ford Center box office or by phone at (800) 745-3000. Tickets are limited to eight per customer.
“The great thing about performing with Elton is that he is such a good piano player and that makes me have to dig deep to keep up with him, not to mention I’ve got the best seat in the house-only one piano away from Elton John!” said Joel in the release.
“I love touring with Billy. I have the greatest respect for him and we’re such good friends,” John said in the release.
“It is truly and honor to have two of the biggest names in the business, Billy Joel and Elton John, as part of our fall lineup of events as we reopen the newly renovated Ford Center,” said Ford Center General Manager Gary Desjardins in the release.“We can’t wait to welcome these legendary musical talents!”
Concert dates announced this year for the “Face 2 Face” tour immediately sold out and included Boston’s Gillette Stadium and two concerts each at Toronto’s Air Canada Center, Seattle’s Key Arena, Chicago’s Wrigley Field and Philadelphia’s Citizen Bank Ballpark, in addition to concerts in Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Nashville, St. Paul and Tampa.
Other concert dates announced for the fall 2009 segment of the “Face 2 Face” tour include Little Rock, Portland, Oakland, San Jose and Salt Lake City.
Joel and John played the first date of their co-headlining “Face 2 Face” tour on July 8, 1994, at the 62,000- capacity Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. That Veterans Stadium concert began a run of 21 sold-out performances in 13 cities and established a winning formula for all future “Face 2 Face” concerts.
Perhaps the high point of that 1994 maiden voyage was the series of five concerts at 75,000-capacity Giants Stadium in New Jersey. In his review of the July 22 performance, Neil Strauss of the New York Times wrote: “Musically, the two gifted, idiosyncratic artists exist in the nether world between pop and rock, where Broadway show tunes, classical compositions, ragtime, gospel and rock-`n’-roll mingle freely.”
The 1994 “Face 2 Face” tour played its final concert Aug. 20 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. It had become one of the 10 biggest U.S. tours of all time. In March and April 1995, the “Face 2 Face” tour returned for 12 encore performances at some of the country’s largest stadiums.
Three years later, the tour that conquered North America took Europe, Japan and Australia by storm with a total of 30 performances.
Joel and John last toured together in 2003 with 24 sell-outs. According to Billboard it is “the most successful touring package of all time.”
For more information, go to www.okfordcenter.com.
-BAM
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