Billy Joel willingly loses $20k every night by refusing to sell front-row seats, but all for a priceless reason

At a time when concert tickets are being resold at inflated prices making sure only the rich can get closer to artists, legendary singer Billy Joel stands out. As one of the bestselling musicians of all time with 150 concerts at Madison Square Garden under his belt, Joel has sold 150 million records worldwide. But in a 2014 interview with Billboard, he revealed that he never sells front-row tickets in his concerts since he wants the “real fans” to be in the front, not the filthy rich who lounge in their seats.

The 75-year-old musician added that these “gold chainers” don’t stand up or cheer, but rather just sit at the front “with their bouffant-haired girlfriend looking like a big shot.” Seeing them concert after concert, Joel felt sick and often wondered, “Who the hell are these people? Where are the real fans?” When his team looked into the matter, they discovered that the real fans were mostly at the back, in the worst seats. “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 into the front rows. This way you’ve got people in the front row that are really happy to be there, real fans,” he told Billboard.

As an additional measure, Joel said that his team sometimes holds off selling the tickets until the last minute, limiting the amount of tickets people can get, to beat the scalpers. “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 the government than there would be based on my ticket prices. So why should they enforce the scalping laws,” he said.

Now 75 years old, the “She’s Always a Woman” songwriter confessed that he loves to play for “young people.” They make the best audience; they are the most enthusiastic, and they cheer wholeheartedly, unlike the gold-chainers, who are filtered out from a young audience by Joel's team. In an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Joel referred to this team as his “road crew.” He said that the “road crew” finds the people at the back seats, and then brings these kids to the front row. According to IMDb, Joel loses almost $20,000 per concert for refusing to sell the front row seats.

Commenting on his video, @notelpatss, who claimed to be one of those escorted to the front row at a Billy Joel concert, wrote, “In 2003, I was one of those kids! A man stopped me, asked me where my seats were, and then personally escorted my boyfriend and me to the front row!  One of the best nights of my life.” Another woman @amoreenaofficial added, “We had the seats all the way up in the last row and the road crew took my entire party to the front row! We were all women!”