Famed performer Billy Joel played his monthly concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City on his 70th birthday last night. Peter Frampton made a guest appearance at Thursday’s show with the Piano Man as did Billy’s daughters. In addition, video messages from the likes of Paul McCartney, Don Henley and Brian Johnson were shared in between songs.
Concertgoers at MSG were given party hats and trading cards commemorating Billy’s birthday. Joel began his 110th concert at the venue with “Big Shot.” A shoutout from Pink, who sang a verse of “Just The Way You Are” was the first played on the screens. Billy gave attendees the chance to hear him perform “Just The Way You Are” however “Vienna” won out in fan voting. “The Longest Time” also beat out “An Innocent Man” in terms of fan reaction. Joel paid tribute to The Rolling Stones a few songs later by performing portions of “Satisfaction” and “Start Me Up” before his own “Keeping The Faith.”
A beautiful moment of the night came when Billy was joined by daughter Alexa Ray Joel for “New York State Of Mind.” Alexa and Della Rose Joel then led a round of “Happy Birthday To You.” The pairing of “She’s Always A Woman” and “Allentown” was followed by Frampton leading Joel and his band through hits “Show Me The Way” and “Baby, I Love Your Way.” The rest of the 23-song main set featured such favorites as “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” “Only The Good Die Young,” “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” and “Piano Man.” Joel presented a four-song encore that started with “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” “Uptown Girl” and “It’s Still Rock & Roll To Me” and ended with Frampton returning for “You May Be Right.”
Fan-Shot Videos (Captured by Steve Easton)
Show Me The Way
Baby, I Love Your Way
New York State Of Mind
You May Be Right
Uptown Girl, It’s Still Rock & Roll To Me
Satisfaction, Start Me Up, Keeping The Faith
Setlist
Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden
- Big Shot
- My Life
- Vienna
- The Longest Time
- The Downeaster Alexa
- The Entertainer
- Don’t Ask Me Why
- Satisfaction
- Start Me Up
- Keeping the Faith
- New York State of Mind
- She’s Always a Woman
- Allentown
- Show Me the Way
- Baby, I Love Your Way
- Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
- I Go to Extremes
- Sometimes a Fantasy
- Only the Good Die Young
- The River of Dreams
- Nessun Dorma
- Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
- Piano Man
Encore
- We Didn’t Start the Fire
- Uptown Girl
- It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
- You May Be Right