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Billy Joel at Groves Stadium

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MikeDeac

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I didn’t know exactly which forum to post this on but wanted to the share an amazing event at our stadium last night. I wasn’t at the concert last year so I don’t know for certain but I believe it to be the largest crowd ever to attend an event at Groves Stadium/BB&T field. It was amazing to watch over 40,000 people join together to sing song after song as one. It was an amazing event and I wanted to thank the people at wake forest who made it possible and also was appreciative of the way they spoke to the crowd as if it was Wake Forest and even had the drummer and stage hand dressed in Wake football jerseys. It would be great to have that many people or close to it single-mindedly cheering for the deacons on a Saturday Someday. I was amazed by the age range of fans who sang each song along with Billy Joel and band on the stage. Thanks again for an amazing night. Only thought this morning if it had been across the street it would have been Joel at the Joel!
 
I was able to sneak out of work for the 26th consecutive day and go to the show last night and I agree it was an awesome time. The logistics of getting in and out on the other hand were apparently a complete clusterfuck. Stories of people waiting on the highways for hours the city running out of parking they closed off the main gate trying to get out so it took us like 45 minutes to get out of Groves Stadium
 
Tremendous show and great crowd. Parking logistics are different from a football game. Numbers and everyone trying to arrive and leave at around the same time. Hopefully Wakewill have another chance soon to improve the parking. Everything else was great.
 
I’ve never seen the place like that.

We arrived early and left slightly ahead of the crowd, so no problems for us there.

The old man can still play and sing. It was great.
 
Last night was one of the best concerts ever. The band was tight. The staging was great. And Billy Joel was on it. The WF mentions were unexpected, but very cool.

As to the parking, we had no problems getting in and out. But it is so different from football. 31,000+ trying to get in at the same time was the problem. It appears Akron Drive was the last road to clear. Had some friends who missed the first quarter of the concert stuck on Akron. Still a great night at BB&T.
 
The parking was a cluster but the concert was terrific. BBT is a great size for that sort of thing - not too big. Great time.
 
ChrisL68 said:
I was able to sneak out of work for the 26th consecutive day and go to the show last night and I agree it was an awesome time. The logistics of getting in and out on the other hand were apparently a complete clusterfuck. Stories of people waiting on the highways for hours the city running out of parking they closed off the main gate trying to get out so it took us like 45 minutes to get out of Groves Stadium
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It took me fifteen minutes to hail an Uber downtown because of this show. The driver said he left the area because it was such a mess.
 
A buddy of mine threw me a ticket last second, so I drove down from Raleigh, parked at my parent's house and ubered over. They we're tailgating with some other families, and from the red lot it didn't seem all that crowded. That all changed when we tried to walk in and an usher told us that 10K were trying to go through that entrance, and that the student lot side was far less crowded. Which it was.

I was very impressed with the set up, and the "big concert' feel that the show had. Billy Joel has certainly aged, but his voice and band were still great. I'm a casual fan at best, and I really enjoyed myself. My buddy's parents drove me home, and while it did take 15-20 minutes to get out, it wasn't any worse than leaving a football game.
 
Sad but totally predictable that in a year when we have national title contender Clemson and a top ten Notre Dame team visiting BB&T, the biggest event of the season, even for WF fans apparently, is a friggin' Billy Joel concert.
 
beachdeac said:
Last night was one of the best concerts ever. The band was tight. The staging was great. And Billy Joel was on it. The WF mentions were unexpected, but very cool.

As to the parking, we had no problems getting in and out. But it is so different from football. 31,000+ trying to get in at the same time was the problem. It appears Akron Drive was the last road to clear. Had some friends who missed the first quarter of the concert stuck on Akron. Still a great night at BB&T.
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Akron was a disaster. After we moved maybe 1/8 of a mile in an hour, I ended up parking at Northside lanes and walking from there. It was around a 1 1/2 mile walk to the stadium. Good thing I did as we made it in a few minutes before the concert started. I heard if you came in from University Parkway or from downtown it wasn't very difficult to get parked. I have no idea if that ended up being true, just what I heard from others.

The concert was amazing. Hearing 40K plus sing "Piano Man" was awesome!!
 
Wait, this was all for Billy Joel? I could see it for The National or even Jason Isbell, but Billy Joel.

Bob Seger makes more sense to me than Billy Joel. Seriously.
 
MikeDeac said:
I didn’t know exactly which forum to post this on but wanted to the share an amazing event at our stadium last night. I wasn’t at the concert last year so I don’t know for certain but I believe it to be the largest crowd ever to attend an event at Groves Stadium/BB&T field. It was amazing to watch over 40,000 people join together to sing song after song as one. It was an amazing event and I wanted to thank the people at wake forest who made it possible and also was appreciative of the way they spoke to the crowd as if it was Wake Forest and even had the drummer and stage hand dressed in Wake football jerseys. It would be great to have that many people or close to it single-mindedly cheering for the deacons on a Saturday Someday. I was amazed by the age range of fans who sang each song along with Billy Joel and band on the stage. Thanks again for an amazing night. Only thought this morning if it had been across the street it would have been Joel at the Joel!
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Great post. All accurate too!
 
inspectah said:
Sad but totally predictable that in a year when we have national title contender Clemson and a top ten Notre Dame team visiting BB&T, the biggest event of the season, even for WF fans apparently, is a friggin' Billy Joel concert.
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Please go on about how great the games that we were outscored 119-30 were.
 
That was pretty cool. I take it back.

I was being a douche because it is not my type of music. Lame of me.
 
Fun event. Great party.

The posturing from our athletic department that this was some sort of “accomplishment” though is just silly. We last one an ACC quarter final game in the only sport that matters in 2006. We are a disaster and trying to create “accomplishment” over a concert isn’t good.
 
donaldross said:
Fun event. Great party.

The posturing from our athletic department that this was some sort of “accomplishment” though is just silly. We last one an ACC quarter final game in the only sport that matters in 2006. We are a disaster and trying to create “accomplishment” over a concert isn’t good.
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Lol @ dumbest post ever
 
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