Why Billy Joel refuses to sell front row seats to his shows

nypost.com:

10-year residency at Madison Square Garden draws to a close on Thursday in New York City. Over the past decade, Joel, now 75, has played 104 sold-out shows and sold 1.9 million tickets, becoming synonymous with the world-famous arena like the Knicks and Rangers.Throughout his storied career and into his residency, Joel has upheld a distinctive practice: he does not sell front row tickets to his shows.

Joel explained in a 2014 interview with Billboard that this decision was to ensure that tickets end up in the hands of genuine fans. “We never sell front rows, 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,” he said. “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.’ They don’t stand up, make noise, sit there with their bouffant haired girlfriend lookin’ like a big shot,” he continued. “I kinda got sick of that, who the hell are these people, where are the real fans?

It turns out the real fans were always in the back of the room in the worst seats.”To address the issue, Joel’s team selects fans from the back of the arena and moves them because they are the ones “really happy to be there.”“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 detailed. “This way you’ve got people in the front row that are really happy to be there, real fans.