Piano Man

I like Billy Joel. I have liked him for years. I even have a very favorite Billy Joel song. But for reasons I cannot fathom, I have never seen him perform live. When he first became popular in the late 1970s, we were either too busy or had insufficient funds (tickets + baby sitter) to go to many concerts.

A few months ago, I saw somewhere that he had begun a concert series at Madison Square Garden. His plan was to perform once a month as long as the shows were sold out. It has now been 17 months and he is still going strong, and in just two months, with his 65^th performance at MSG on the first of July (sold out, of course), he will break the lifetime record of the most performances by any entertainer in that venue.

At the time I became aware of this series, the first date that worked for us and still had available seats was last in last May. So last Thursday evening we headed into Manhattan for what turned out to be perhaps the best concert we have ever seen, and we have seen quite a few concerts over the years. His voice is strong. He seems relaxed and comfortable on stage. He sang almost exclusively his earlier songs, despite the fact that there were a surprising number of younger fans, some of whom were probably not even born when he recorded that material.

Here is the full set list:

1.     Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway) 

2.     My Life 

3.     Hot Child in the City 

4.     Your Song 

5.     The Entertainer 

6.     Summer, Highland Falls 

7.     Con te partirò / Time to Say Goodbye 

8.     The Longest Time 

9.     An Innocent Man 

10. Big Man on Mulberry Street 

11. Allentown 

12. New York State of Mind 

13. Good Lovin' [Young Rascals Cover, with Felix Cavaliere on organ & vocals]. First time since 2/2/87 

14. The Downeaster Alexa 

15. Sometimes a Fantasy 

16. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) 

17. Keeping the Faith 

18. She's Always a Woman 

19. Don't Ask Me Why 

20. Highway to Hell 

21. We Didn't Start the Fire 

22. The River of Dreams 

23. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant

24. Piano Man
Encore:

25. Uptown Girl 

26. It's Still Rock and Roll to Me 

27. You May Be Right 

28. Only the Good Die Young 

Billy Joel’s paternal grandfather was a classical pianist, and there are hints of classical music influence in many of his songs. Here is a recent performance of my favorite Billy Joel song, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, which is a good example of this.

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Rebecca