The last time Billy Joel held a concert in Boston, he played at the Boston Garden - a 15,000 seat venue in the heart of the city. Subtract over 10,000 seats and move out to the suburbs, and you have the slightly lesser known Cohen Auditorium.
But at this point in Joel's career, size doesn't matter; 620 adoring fans are all the Piano Man needs.
Joel has chosen to grace Cohen's stage tonight at 8 p.m. for his much-anticipated "Evening of Questions, Answers, and a Little Music." Pianist Richard Joo will join him to play selections from Joel's latest classical music album, Fantasies and Delusions.
Concert Board co-chairs Aaron Wright and Christian Trentacosta and Assistant Director of Student Activities Ed Cabellon worked this semester to bring Joel to campus. After learning about the opportunity this summer through their entertainment agent, they put in Tufts' name among 55 other Boston-area schools interested in hosting Joel.The coveted tickets were distributed on TuftsLife.com on Oct. 29 on a first-come, first-served basis. There were 470 tickets available to undergraduate and graduate students, and they sold out in 44 seconds
The next day, faculty had a chance to snap up the 50 tickets available to them. The rest of the seats were allocated to Concert Board members, special Tufts invitees, and representatives from Sony Music, Joel's record company.
Tufts is one of six stops on Joel's college tour. Earlier this month he visited the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown, and according to Cabellon, he will also stop at Princeton, Northwestern, and New York University.
Tufts concertgoers had the opportunity to preview the performance Sunday night, when Joel's two-hour UPenn performance aired on A&E Network. "Billy Joel: In His Own Words" put the singer/songwriter both at center stage and behind his piano, where he fielded questions about a career that has spanned over 30 years.
Joel is not new to college tours; he explained to the UPenn audience that he has been everywhere from UCLA to Oxford, taking questions from young fans. "And I didn't even graduate high school!" he quipped.
Despite his recent focus on composing classical music, he gladly played several crowd favorites to help answer questions like: "What is the meaning behind 'Miami 2017'?"
Joo, who Joel admitted can play his classical compositions better than he ever could, joined the Piano Man about halfway through his set to showcase the pop legend's newly rediscovered first love. "I wrote that!" said Joel with pride, after watching Joo pound away in front of a mesmerized crowd.
Joel stopped recording original pop music after the 1994 release of the multi-platinum River of Dreams. The current mini-tour is intended to showcase his new work in intimate settings.
