Rare is the class of performer that a) has the established songbook of hits to hold a crowd's attention, b) boasts the experience to deliver a polished live show and c) maintains a boundless energy decades into their legendary rock career.
Paul McCartney has it. Jon Bon Jovi has it. Bruce Springsteen has it. And, as was made clear on Sunday night at the ACC, Billy Joel has it.
Joel spent two hours wowing a capacity crowd of 16,500 with an anthology of hit songs and no shortage of self-deprecating humour. The Piano Man was just that, bringing a blaze of versatile musicality and showmanship to his 26-song performance.
Backed by an excellent band that included a vibrant saxophone section, Joel played through every song with both passion and comfortable familiarity. The set's early portion, which included "Miami 2017," "The Entertainer" and "New York State of Mind," slowly built up an initially sleepy crowd and, in doing so, set the stage for an explosive finish. The New York native offered up an energized take on “Piano Man” which sent him off-stage, only to return for a jam-packed encore that included “We Didn't Start the Fire,” “Uptown Girl,“ “It's Still Rock and Roll to Me,” “You May Be Right” and, finally, “Only the Good Die Young.”
The only snag in an otherwise flawless encore turned into one of the night’s highlights for the genial, genuine Joel. As he tripped over an early verse of his tongue-twisting hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” he stopped the song, acknowledged the mistake and even admitted that the fast-paced song shouldn’t be that challenging, as it simply contains different lyrics laid over the same tune.
That human element to Joel’s performance sets him apart from many similar musicians, forcing you to think about his craft in a way you wouldn’t with other artists. On stage, he possesses plenty of humility (he joked about his age and whether the audience had tuned out yet at various points on Sunday), a sharp sense of humour (after telling the crowd that his drummer had recently gotten engaged, Joel was quick to jump into a few notes of “Another One Bites the Dust”) and some keen, insightful introspection (unlike his flashier contemporaries, such as Elton John).
Speaking of Elton John, seeing a sold out crowd of Billy Joel fans just a month after John packed the venue, made me wonder how much money they left on the table by joining forces for the admittedly spectacular dual effort that graced the ACC two summers ago.
While Sir Elton was nowhere to be found on Sunday (nor was he expected), two hours of Billy sent all of the 16,500 in attendance home happy.
