 After performing for 50 years, you might expect 74-year-old Billy Joel to simply go through the motions at a gig in 2023. You would be wrong. Last night the Piano Man proved he's so much more than just that at BST Hyde Park, as he riled up the crowd with deadpan jokes, epic solo performances and the energy of a 20-year-old whippersnapper – but with the experience of a rock n' roll great. Categorising Billy's life work into the genre of 'rock' seems reductive. He seeps into pop with Uptown Girl, arm-swaying country with The Entertainer, and even jazz with some painstaking piano and saxophone riffs. Oh, and his voice is as mighty as ever, by the way. He growled like James Brown, crooned like Tom Jones, and rocked like Mick Jagger (although he did joke, after a red-herring performance of Start Me Up, that actually, he can't.) Billy set the tone for the evening when he swiveled on his chair after opening with energetic performances of My Life and then Movin' Out, and said: 'Thank you London, England. It's good to see ya,' before adding, somewhat morbidly: 'I'm not sure when this old ass is going to be back again.' To this, the crowd erupted into laugher, as they did two minutes later when he joked dryly, squinting into the horizon through some black-out sunglasses: 'The brightest sun I've ever seen on stage is in England.' Billy isn't shy of making a joke or two, and had the crowd howling with laughter in some moments (Picture: Jason Kempin/Getty Images) The star rocked like Mick Jagger, although he claimed to be past that kind of exuberance (Picture: Dave Hogan/Hogan Media/Shutterstock) To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Introducing his next song, Billy mentioned the album it was from – Streetlife Serenade – to which the die hards, clad in Billy Joel T-shirts){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
After performing for 50 years, you might expect 74-year-old Billy Joel to simply go through the motions at a gig in 2023. You would be wrong.
Last night the Piano Man proved he’s so much more than just that at BST Hyde Park, as he riled up the crowd with deadpan jokes, epic solo performances and the energy of a 20-year-old whippersnapper – but with the experience of a rock n’ roll great.
Categorising Billy’s life work into the genre of ‘rock’ seems reductive. He seeps into pop with Uptown Girl, arm-swaying country with The Entertainer, and even jazz with some painstaking piano and saxophone riffs.
Oh, and his voice is as mighty as ever, by the way. He growled like James Brown, crooned like Tom Jones, and rocked like Mick Jagger (although he did joke, after a red-herring performance of Start Me Up, that actually, he can’t.)