There’s only one piano man….and Tampa, FL was lucky enough
to host him for one night last month. That’s right, Mr. Billy Joel himself
visited Tampa Bay for a sold out show at Amalie Arena.
Now I can spend countless paragraphs going through Joel’s lifelong
accomplishments. The guy has won so many awards, sold so many albums, received
so many honors, and set so many records that it would not be possible to list
them all. More important than those quantifiable achievements though, are the
songs themselves that Billy has written. He gave the Tampa crowd a worthy
display of his career.
The thing about seeing Billy Joel live is that you’re
essentially seeing a greatest hits show. At this point of his career, you’re
only going to get the top 40 songs of his impressive discography. He set that
tone early, opening the show with ‘Miami 2017’ and ‘My Life’ as he took the
stage just after 8:20pm.
Joel sat at a rotating grand piano, center stage with a
large band at his back. The Amalie Arena was full to the brim, with an audience
of about 20,000 extending all the way behind the stage. The crowd age ranged
from teenagers to what appeared to be 80 year olds, showing the impressive
influence of Joel’s music.
Billy looked good and seemed to be in a good mood throughout
the evening. He commented on enjoying Tampa shows because it offered a chance
to visit his home in West Palm. He also jokingly mocked his good friend Elton
John early, playing a snippet of ‘Your Song.’
Joel acknowledged that it was clearly impossible for him to
play every tune on the night that the crowd wanted to hear. So he offered two
‘fielder’s choice,’ where he let the audience cheer determine the next song.
Fan favorite ‘Vienna’ dominated ‘This is the Time,’ while ‘The Longest Time’
won in a much closer ovation over ‘An Innocent Man.’ It was a unique and
creative way of taking some audience requests.
While the hits of Joel are enough to carry a setlist, Billy
mixed in some impressive covers. Joel paid tribute to both David Bowie and The
Eagles' Glenn Frey.
A clear mid-set standout was the classic ‘New York State of
Mind.’ Billy’s longtime saxophonist Mark Rivera joined him stool bound for this
ballad. Billy belted out the vocals while Rivera matched him with a commanding
saxophone.
The crowd varied between sitting and standing for most of
the performance, as Billy spent pretty equal time representing each era of his
career. No album was more represented on the night than 1977’s The Stanger.
Joel performed 5 tunes off this record on the night, including fan favorite ‘Scenes from an Italian
Restaurant.'
After the appropriate ‘Piano Man’ closer, Joel returned to
the stage for what ended up being a near 45-minute encore. The 66-year old took
a break from the piano during this time, showcasing some impressive
microphone-stand flipping on ‘Uptown Girl’ before playing some basic guitar
cords on ‘Still Rock N’ Roll To Me.’ It seemed out of character for Joel but
the crowd gave him a friendly reception for it.
In total, Joel performed nearly three hours, concluding just
before 11pm. The setlist was fantastic and the vibe was great as the house
lights came back on. Billy Joel proved that he is still very much a rock star. The guy has no need to travel to play any shows, but Tampa was lucky enough to get him for this one night.
SETLIST:
1. Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
2. My Life (with ‘Ode to Joy’ intro)
3. Everybody Loves You Now
4. Your Song (Elton John cover)
5. Vienna (Audience vote over ‘This is the Time’)
6. The Entertainer
7. The Lion Sleeps Tonight (The Tokens cover)
8. The Longest Time (Audience vote over ‘An Innocent Man’)
9. Rebel Rebel (David Bowie cover)
10. Zanzibar
11. The Downeaster Alexa
12. Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
13. New York State of Mind
14. Allentown
15. She’s Always a Woman (with ‘You Are So Beautiful’ intro)
16. Desperado (Eagles cover)
17. Sometimes a Fantasy
18. Don’t Ask Me Why
19. We Didn’t Start the Fire
20. The River of Dreams
21. Take It Easy
22. Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
23. Piano Man
ENCORE:
24. Uptown Girl
25. It’s Still Rock N’ Roll to Me
26. Big Shot
27. Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover)
28. You May Be Right
29. Only the Good Die Young
