Over his decades-long career, music legend Billy Joel has scored legions of devoted fans. Joel is known for his unique voice and amazing skills on the piano, and fans flock to his concerts to see him perform live. Many are saddened when they learn the one rule that Joel demands those attending his concerts abide by, but it turns out he has a good reason behind it.

Though there is a huge demand for front row tickets, nobody is ever allowed to actually purchase them.

Joel recently explained the reason why he refuses to sell front row tickets, and it makes a lot of sense.

“We never sell front rows,” Joel said. “We hold those tickets at just about every concert. For years, the scalpers got the tickets and would scalp the front row for ridiculous amounts of money. Our tickets are cheap, under $100, some in the $80s, the highest is about $150.”

It made Joel angry that his loyal and dedicated fans were being kept from enjoying a front row seat at his concerts all because scalpers were selling them at high prices.

“I’d look down and see rich people sitting there, I call ’em ‘gold chainers.’ Sitting there puffing on a cigar, ‘entertain me, piano man,'” Joel said. “They don’t stand up, make noise, sit there with their bouffant haired girlfriend lookin’ like a big shot. I kinda got sick of that, who the (heck) are these people, where are the real fans?”

When Joel realized his real fans were sitting in the back of the concert hall, he decided to take action.

“We now hold those tickets, and I send my road crew out to the back of the room when the audience comes in and they get people from the worst seats and bring ’em in to the front rows,” he said.

“We’ve tried to figure out how to beat the scalpers for years and years, hold off selling until the last minute, the wristband thing, limiting the amount of tickets people can get,” Joel continued. “You can’t fight that secondary market. There used to be anti-scalping laws and they let them lapse from the books. My theory is there’s a lot of tax revenue in those secondary ticket markets, these guys selling tickets for $500 to $1,000 gotta pay tax on it, and a lot more goes to government than there would be based on my ticket prices. So why should they enforce the scalping laws?”

Joel likes his audience best when it’s made up of people who span all income levels.

“They make the most noise, they’re the most enthusiastic,” he said.

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