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At the outset of a sensational show, Billy Joel warns the crowd that he has good and bad news. The bad news is that he hasn’t got any new material, the good is we won’t have to listen to any new stuff.
In fact, there’s only one big surprise, he says. “I’ve played all over the world over many years and this is the brightest sun I’ve ever faced… And it’s in England!”
An ecstatic crowd basks in the golden rays as a balmy sun slowly sets on a man whose career shows absolutely no sign of following suit.
Following Bruce Springsteen last night is a tall order but a masterful Joel opens with two massive singalongs, a euphorically defiant My Life followed by Moving Out.
The surprise is watching teenagers and twenty-something’s singing along, word for word, both here and throughout the show. This is music which transcends generations and passing trends.
Dressed in the jeans, black t-shirt and black jacket he’s worn for the past decades, the 74-year-old is an artist who resolutely knows who he is.
The third song of a jam-packed two-hour set couldn’t be more fitting: The Entertainer. No lavish sets, dancers or special effects are required. Just a world-class singer-songwriter with a fabulous back catalogue.
He’s matched by a classily well-drilled band of multi-instrumentalists who even thrillingly unleash three saxophones at key, spine-tingling moments.
So rich is his back catalogue, Joel gives the crowd the choice between Just The Way You Are and Vienna. The vociferous true fans up front actually pluck for the lesser-known latter… And then are treated to an even deeper cut, Zanzibar.
It’s the third time I’ve seen Joel in concert and he’s in superb vocal form, and clearly in infectiously good spirits. When he comes out from behind the piano, women scream in the crowd and he tells us, “Don’t get your knickers in a twist, I’m no Mick Jagger.” And then Joel and the band breaks into the Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up, complete with the frontman delivering a hilarious Jagger prancing strut.
He wipes his brow when he hits all the high notes in An Innocent Man, and we all joyfully join the doo-wapping harmonies on The Longest Time. Goosebumps tingle as that piano riff ripples across the crowd and we all sway as we slide into A New York State of Mind. It ends on a sultry prolonged flirtation between the piano man and his lead sax player for over 30 years, Mark Rivera. Pure artistry.
There’s real magic when an acoustic Always A Woman has the entire crowd gently crooning along, respectfully quiet, while the big screens flash up images of beaming and crying women in the audience. But it’s not long before the boogaloo piano and jiving saxophones have us all jumping with joy on Only The Good Die Young.
The glorious centrepiece, as always, is the rapturous journey of the multi-part Italian Restaurant, topped and tailed by our massed thousands, belting out, “Bottle of red, bottle of white…”.
The entire crowd is even louder on a tremendously spine-tingling Piano Man. Joel speaks for all of us as he sings, “And it’s me they’ve been coming to see, to forget about life for a while.”
There’s the obligatory clearing of the stage for the encore. The crowd chats, “Billy, Billy!” and then flames race across the huge screens and we’re ready and raring for We Didn’t Start The Fire.
There is a slightly random guest appearance from Joe Jonas, who looks a little lost on Uptown Girl. It’s the only misstep on a flawless night that builds into Still Rock ‘n Roll to Me and a rocked-out Beatles’ Hard Day’s Night.
Joel wraps it up with the lip-curled attitude of You May Be Right, extended into a fantastically bombastic lengthy outro with the whole band letting rip and the piano man hammering away on those ivories.
Fifty years after his Piano Man album was released, the boy from The Bronx remains one of the greatest entertainers of all time.
