Steppin Out with Joe Jackson

My blog today has a very special sentiment to me as a music lover.  The first time I heard the song Steppin' Out I was in Germany. It was my first time being overseas and all I had sometimes was my radio to remind me of home.

The piano intro to the song is amazing, that's what originally caught my attention. I heard the song and then I wanted to hear it again, because the song itself was very different to me, I had never heard anything like it.  I'm thinking that might have been the beginning of my love for British New Wave (thank you Joe!) Eventually I actually recorded the song from the radio and played it along with other song favorites until the tape broke :)

Through the years as my music collection grew it became more difficult to find music that I had heard on the radio back then, especially if it came from the UK.  Perhaps without the connection to it, I can honestly say that I might have let some of my favorites slip by the way side so to speak, and focused on the albums that I could readily get my hands on.  But of course, as I always mention, the internet came along and changed the game, which I personally am very thankful for.  Nothing like finding treasures that you've been searching for at the click of a mouse button :)

I never actually got to see Joe Jackson in concert until a few years ago when his Rain album came out. Before then I had to rely on finding his CD's at small obscure record shops and ordering them online. Then came the day that I received an email from Ticketmaster that he was coming to Seattle. I just about came unglued.

I bought the tickets months in advance and waited impatiently until the day of the concert.  It was at the Moore Theater, a really cool venue where I would later the same year see The Psychedelic Furs.  I honestly don't remember the opening act, I was waiting for the main event.  To quote a good friend of mine from Twitter @Newwavekid1, the anticipation was "spine tingling" *.  It wasn't until Joe walked out onto the stage that I realized that I wasn't the only "true" fan in the place.

During the time my husband and I waited for Joe to make his way to the stage we played this game called "what song will he play first" I wasn't sure and thought he would play something that was old and familiar like Look Sharp! or I'm the Man.  Richard said "he's in the US dear, he's going to play something that was mega popular here for him...probably Steppin Out"

I looked at my husband as if he'd lost his mind and said.."no, that's the encore song!" and then promptly shushed him as we rose to give Joe a standing ovation as he came onstage.  The next few moments were like a dream come true, he waved to the crowd and sat down at his piano and motioned to the rest of the trio, and then I heard it...

The piano intro to Steppin Out.  There are two if you recall, the light almost monotone sound of the keys playing the beginning, and then he starts again, this time more emphasis on chords and dramatic timing..when he played that, the theater went absolutely INSANE, we all rose to our feet, cheering wildly, whistling, screaming, it was flipping amazing!  EVERYONE knew what song it was.  We all sang along from start to finish.  When he was finished with it, he briefly stood up for a bow and then sat down and went right into the next song.  His audience however was still trying to come down off of Cloud Nine.

I do remember screaming something quite profane, but in a good way and also shouting how much I loved Joe. My husband looked at me and smiled and shook his head.  During the next song he says to me "so..happy are you?" I shoved him a bit, wiping the tears from my eyes and said.."god I hate it when you're right"  but I really didn't.  It was 20 plus years of love and admiration being rewarded.  Even to this day I treasure every minute of it.

*I was given permission to use this quote by @Newwavekid1 " that song is pure class i remember it at the time and i loved it then, spine tingling".  Truly my sentiments.