An Oklahomily Elton John/Billy Joel/BoK Center Concert Revue

So many issues, so little ambition.

I'm still feeling the after-effects of the Elton John-Billy Joel concert last night in Tulsa, the most potent of which is the fact that I didn't get back home until 2 a.m. and didn't fall asleep until nearly 3. There was no dispensation from normal morning reveille.

So before I crank up the Christian Constitutionalist hate-mongering for hump day, humor me as I proffer a few reflections on last night's bill of fare.

1. The concert was an artistic triumph. Both men still have their playing chops intact, and although Elton has clearly lost his high range -- not uncommon for human beings -- he doesn't try to do the impossible, using what he has most effectively. All Billy Joel has lost, it seems, is most of his hair. I know this bothers some people, but you'd have to be extremely superficial (or a complete musical idiot) to let that affect your enjoyment of his performance. (By the way, the photo posted is not from last night's event. It's from earlier this year, one I "lifted" from the web.)

For myself, I enjoyed the opening and closing sets where the two men joined forces to sing each other's songs. Their voices are compatible enough, and they are professional entertainers (that means businessmen) who understand that egos get in the way of a good show. But I really enjoyed the separate sets where Elton and his backup band, and Billy and his separate backup band, took off on their own material. Wow! I greatly appreciated the fact that neither performer attempted to fob off on us any of their more modern, less commercial material. That is not to say, however, that every song was a Top Ten'er. Some, as Mr. Joel said, were "album cuts" that longtime fans would know and new fans might appreciate.

In Elton's solo set, he reached back for "Love Lies Bleeding in My Hands," and educated the younger members of the audience as to what genius sounds like. Likewise he performanced "Madman Across the Water" and others. There were the automatic crowd pleasers, too, like "Rocket Man," "Crocodile Rock," and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," (which are heard in constant rotation on the oldies stations). Nothing wrong with that. We got our meat and potatoes.

It was at the conclusion of Elton's set that my wife leaned over to me and said, "How can Billy Joel top this?" My response: "I can't wait to find out."

In Joel's solo set, he reached back for "Zanzibar" and "Italian Restaurant," among others, but let's face it: the guy in his writing prime was a hit machine, and his smoking hot, ten member, New York-area backing band took the musical temperature up a few more notches. Double wow!! And Joel was funny as well. He talks to an audience of thousands as if you were sitting across the piano bar, letting you know that he's in the same mood you're in. This playful touch was especially useful "in the middle" of "In the Middle of the Night," when he suddenly sequed into "Oklahoma" (you know, that old Rodgers & Hammerstein song). As the audience (sort of slowly) realized what was happening, suddenly the BoK Center was filled with the voices of Okies singing their hearts out, many of them standing, and after "O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A, Oklahoma, okay!" Billy and Band seamlessly riffed right back into "In the middle ..." and it was so pitch-perfect that everyone had to laugh and clap.

Eventually John rejoined Joel and they terrifically tore through a few more numbers, before the backing musicians disappeared into the stage and the two men closed out with "Goodbye Norma Jean" and "Piano Man," with Joel doing his own harmonica work.

After just over 31/2 hours of non-stop serenading, an exhausted crowd stood and clapped and several minutes as John and Joel signed a few autographs and waved. It wasn't so much a demand for an encore as it was a tribute to quality. Even at today's inflated ticket prices, we had received every penny's worth.

2. Politics were avoided. The only thing that came close to a political statement, and it would depend upon your interpretation, was that just before "Allentown," Joel's anthem to the culture shift and job losses in the 1980s, the entertainer said, "This next song is sort of topical. And by the way, I want to thank you for keeping me employed. There are a lot of people who don't have jobs right now."

That was it. No finger pointing at right or left, just an acknowledgement that some people are hurting. In my opinion, Billy Joel is an honest purveyor of observations of American life. We have too few of them.

Elton made no political statements whatever. I appreciated that. In fact, I found myself offering a prayer for him during the concert. He's made a lot of people happy through his songs and his talent, and I would hope that God will take that into account, and maybe work on Elton a little bit.

3. My BoK Center review. This was my first trip to the BoK Center. I give it a "B-minus" overall, which is better than the grade I thought it would deserve.

First, the positive. The sound baffling which prevents standing wave harmonics was excellent. We had seats in the nosebleed section near the top and farthest from the stage, and we could hear everything wonderfully. Sound gets an "A." Sight lines were a bit more troublesome but I've seen a lot worse from such heights. Most patrons could see very well. A "B+." Restrooms were impressive ("A"), hallways were wide ("A), escelators were fast, although there were too few of them, so I downgrade escelator grade to "B-minus."

Now for the not-so-positive. We were told beforehand by BoK Center e-mail that the doors would open at 6 p.m. for the 7:30 concert. Didn't happen. Doors didn't really get going until nearly 7:10 and thousands upon thousands of worried people feared a repeat of the disastrous Mettalica concert last year, sans the rain. On the upside, once the lines began moving, security got a lot of people into the building fast, and the concert was only about 5 minutes late in starting, and I don't think anyone was left outside.

But the principle is this: Let your word be your bond! Say what you mean and mean what you say. If you say the doors open at 6 p.m., then by damn open them at 6 p.m. BoK gets an "F" for punctuality.

Seating: The seats are comfortable ("A"). The seats themselves, that is. There is very little leg room in the upper reaches of the BoK universe (grade "D-minus). I have long legs. By mid concert I found my legs and knees cramping and there was absolutely nothing to do except finally take a short walk down to a walkway where I stood and allowed my circulatory and muscle systems to regenerate. That meant disturbing several people since there was so damn little leg room! Everyone was forced to stand and hope that I didn't step on their feet, while I prayed that my leg cramps didn't cause me to collapse forward into the rows of people below me before I reached the aisle!

(To be fair to myself, this same problem occurred several times during the concert as various people would go the restrooms or the concession stands. The latter occasioned an interesting balancing game in which it often appeared that drinks and foods would go hurtling into reaches below. Thankfully that didn't happen in my viewing last night. But it will, and often.)

(On a sad note our sherpa fell into a crevasse (or maybe it was a stairwell) while assisting us to our seats.)

Okay, so we didn't really have a sherpa guide. Someone will probably say, "But Dave, why didn't you purchase better tickets?" Well, Einstein, the tickets were a gift from my son at Christmas, and it was all he could afford, and more than he should have spent! Does that exonerate the engineers and architects who designed the center? I think not.

Finally, most gratifying was that the people at the concert were very respectful of smoking regulations and each other, one of the best behaved crowds I've seen in recent memory. Maybe that's a sign of things to come. I hope so.