Written by Kim
I had my big milestone birthday in July and Alex asked me what I wanted. I really didn’t want anything but he insisted that I must have something because it was a big one. As I approached my 60 I was thinking of something getting my whole family together but with 2 babies on the way that was unrealistic so I told Alex no things let’s have an experience – I’d like to see Billy Joel again at MSG. I’ve seen him several times over the years. We started looking at tickets but the prices were insane – between $800 & $1,000 per seat for nosebleeds in the 400s partly because his residency was ending in July. So my resourceful husband starting looking at alternatives and found fantastic floor seats for less than half the price of MSG to see Billy Joel and Sting in Vegas. Neither of us had seen Sting or the Police so we decided to head to Vegas for a few days.
Getting to Vegas from Myrtle always requires a connection and has been problematic both times we’ve come to Myrtle since we moved. Our flight Friday afternoon hit some delays from weather in Dallas which would have stranded us in Dallas with no way to get to the show on Saturday night. We were on a small plane and were researching our options while sitting on tarmac. The flight attendant asked for volunteers to get off (because the plane was overweight) and we immediately volunteered figuring we could find an alternative. Good thing we are good at finding flights. We knew staying on American would make it easier for them to help us because all flights were pretty full and pricey. We found a direct flight from Charlotte on Saturday noon so asked for that. Our original return was connecting in Charlotte so just had them cancel the Myrtle leg. So….we left the airport, rearranged all our reservations, repacked because we decided to skip Zion so didn’t need hiking boots,etc., slept in our bed and got up to drive to Charlotte which is nearly 4 hours from us. We were set with a flight that would get us there and also had $1,000 in future flight credits we will use to visit Zion in Spring. Charlotte airport is crazy busy compared to Myrtle so we will continue to think about how to avoid future delays requiring connections. When we go to Europe we drive to NJ and go out of NY or EWR. Life’s challenges. 🤪
We got to the hotel around 3:30 and we had a dinner reservation at Best Friend, a Korean bbq restaurant in Park MGM where we are staying. We had never eaten Korean Bbq. It was really flavorful and a bit spicy but not bad. We ordered the BBQ platter and a rice bowl
After dinner we walked over to Allegiant stadium which was a healthy 35 minute walk. The close Hacienda road over the interstate to cars so pedestrians can get to the stadium from the strip. Billy and Sting opened doing “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” together. Then Billy left the stage and Sting performed with his band.
Still looks incredible at 73. He looked and sounded just like 40 years ago when he was playing with The Police. He’s extremely fit – must be a gym rat. They played a lot of Police stuff and some of his solo stuff. We knew most of what he played. He played for about an hour and 15 minutes.
Billy opened with “My Life” which I think he’s done when we’ve seen him previous times. Billy was looking a little older this time. He’s 75 you know and he hobbles a bit when he walks. I also noticed that he dropped the key on several songs because he’s struggling to hit the high notes but he still put on an amazing show! He did perform “Innocent Man” one of my favorites but did it standing up with David Rosenthal on piano so he could breathe better to hit the notes. He was straining but got there. One of my most favorite songs is Vienna and he did that too but didn’t do his new song which disappointed me a bit.
Our seats were amazing in the 13th row to the left of the stage. Our only challenge was if we weren’t standing and other were we needed to watch on the screens. We stood most of the show but we have been up since 2:30 am Vegas time so our tanks were empty later in the show.
The crowd was mostly older (like us and older). There was lots of sequins and men in suit jackets which was a bit weird to me. To each his own everyone was having a blast!
Getting out of the stadium was no easy task. We followed the herd out of the stadium and across the pedestrian bridge to the Strip. After our walk back and a stop to gamble a bit we got to our room about 1 am. After 20,000 steps we were exhausted. Good night from Vegas! Tomorrow we will check out of Park MGM and move to the Cosmopolitan. Until then..,,
