The Real Reason Billy Joel Never Sells Out His Front Row At Concerts

If the Instagram post in question looks a bit suspicious, worry not! Billy Joel's daughter seems to have confirmed the information. Alexa Ray, Joel's daughter with famed supermodel Christie Brinkley playfully commented on the post (via People): "A Real Mensch!" Ray, a singer in her own right, performs with her father at his concerts, as well.

So what's really the deal here? According to the Alexa Joel-approved post, instead of letting scalpers take advantage of his fans, Joel saves the seats for the "real fans," the fans who bought nosebleed tickets because they just wanted to be in the same room as him. The fans who get the tickets are "people in the front row that are really happy to be there," giving more energy for the artist to feed off and make the show even better. According to People, the post pulled the information from a 2014 interview Joel did with Billboard.

As for the practice of saving tickets for fans, Joel isn't the only one who has done this. Notably, the wildly successful Broadway musical Hamilton has a similar policy. While they don't give front row seats to those in the back of the theater, the musical has a lottery system fans can enter to win seats. Like a Billy Joel show, Hamilton had a problem with scalpers buying all the tickets, preventing fans with less financial means from seeing the show as easily.

Perhaps other artists should take a page from Joel's playbook — it just might change their shows for the better.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7XCpKCsr5mbwW%2BvzqZma2xjaYZ6e9OhnGaqlZa5br7Emqqopl2Xtq242GahqJ2cYrumwsSrZKydnKHAbrvUrWShoaNis7O7za1kq6enYq61ecKopZydoqnAcA%3D%3D