Let it never be said that The Piano Man “phones in” a performance. On this particular Friday night in Cleveland, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Billy Joel proved again why he is just about peerless. In front of a packed house, he delivered song after song with wit, vigor, and a sense of pride that comes with nearly 40 years of hard musical labor. Because of this, Joel kept the butts in the seats until the last notes were delivered.
Joel and his band emerged to the overture from The Natural, kicking off the Quicken Loans Arena set with “Prelude/Angry Young Man.” He proceeded to deliver a semi-chronological, 165-minute set that was as much powerful piano rock as it was a full-blown time warp. He offered up most crowd favorites and a few rarities, all of which were welcomed heartily. And when “My Life” was marred by sound and technology problems early on, the crowd took up for singer-songwriter and belted out the song for him.
Showman that he is, Joel apologized for the glitch with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek. “We are not on tape up here,” he laughed. “These are real rock and roll [expletive]-ups!” He then replayed the song from the second verse on to prove it. From there, Joel & Co. tackled some of his biggest hits including “The Entertainer,” “Movin’ Out (Anthony's Song),” a note-perfect “New York State of Mind” and “Allentown,” as well as spectacular oldies “Everybody Loves You Now,” “Vienna” and “Zanzibar.” Joel jokingly dedicated “Movin’ Out” to ousted DJ, Don Imus.
This scrappy New Yorker remains astonishingly sharp at the piano, although at times, one could get the sense it’s hard for his voice to keep up. He kept the throat spray handy and had to use it a couple of times during the evening; those bold high notes in “An Innocent Man” were just out of reach this time around, so he knocked it down an octave and threw in some Elvis hip shaking for good measure. And when Joel needed to give the old windpipe a rest, he leaned heavily on trumpet/flugelhorn Carl Fischer, sax player Mark Rivera and others in his top-notch band.
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1 - Heineken Harry
You better believe there will be times in your life when you’ll be feeling like a stumbling fool.
So take it from me, you'll learn more from your accidents than anything you could ever learn at school.
Don't forget your second wind.
Sooner or later, you'll get your second wind.