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Anecdotes and stories about the decency and generosity of celebrities are arguably as popular on social media as memes and articles about their bad behavior and trend-setting shenanigans. One popular factoid about the common touch of singer-songwriter Billy Joel re-emerged in meme form on social media in January 2019. The meme, which was designed by the Facebook page Truth Inside of You, read: That meme had been shared on social media since 2017, and the wording of the text appeared to have originated in a video published by the Facebook page Did You Know? in July 2017: Compared to most Facebook memes which start with the phrase Did you know?, this one was unusually well sourced, originating as it did with an interview Joel himself gave in 2014. A reporter from the Billboard music industry trade publication put it to Joel that a pretty chill vibe held sway backstage at his live shows, to which Joel responded: So the claim that Billy Joel no longer sells front row tickets but instead distributes them to real fans is based on the star's own account of his touring habits. The phrase people in the front row that are really happy to be there, real fans is also taken word-for-word from Joel's own 2014 account. In the same interview, he stated: We never sell front rows, we hold those tickets at just about every concert. Joel gave a similar description as far back as 2006, in a World Entertainment News Network interview which appeared on the web site ContactMusic.com: In the 2014 documentary film about his landmark 1987 series of concerts in Moscow, Joel indicated that his aversion to wealthy observers occupying the front row of his concerts went back decades. Reflecting on the worryingly quiet start to one of the shows, Joel remarked: They had never heard volume like that. They had never seen lighting like that. The big shots who got the tickets in the front, they didn't like it. It was excruciating to them, which I kind of wanted. You know, we kind of drove them away, they left after a couple of songs. They gave their tickets to the kids in the back and outside, and then we had a real rock n' roll show. It's difficult to discern whether tickets for the first few rows of Joel's concerts are never sold, or what role contractual or commercial arrangements with ticket-sellers or tour promoters might play in that process. However, it is clearly at the very least a long-standing touring policy of Billy Joel and one in keeping with his reputation as a down-to-earth superstar with mass appeal. One online Billy Joel forum includes several personal accounts by fans who described having been picked out from the back rows of his shows and given free seats in the front rows. One of those fans recounted: I can confirm that I was very lucky to have been picked out from the crowd and invited to sit on the front row of one of Billy's concerts. I could not believe it. I was on the very back row in Earls Court, England. Me and my friend [were] asked very kindly would we like to sit on the front row of Billy's concert. How lucky [were] we! Amazing, will never forget it.
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