Author: Jernej Vene
Location: Stadthalle / Vienna / Austria
Concert date: June 25, 2006
Attendance: 0
Ticket price: 30 – 228 Euros
Billy Joel is an artist of worldwide fame. The packed Vienna city hall gave him a warm welcome, with a thunderous standing ovation lasting several minutes right after the second song. Part of the reason is that he last played in Europe in 1994, and four years later he cancelled a tour with Elton John because of throat problems. The music world got to know Billy Joel in 1973 with the release of his second record Piano man, and since then, with a few stumbles along the way, he has mostly been climbing toward the peaks of popular music. I can safely say the Vienna show was full of great vibes. With Joel’s rich catalog it’s tough to pick songs that please every single person in the crowd, but he still played and sang a few that weren’t big hits, which only added to the magic of the night. In his music you can hear pop, rock, jazz, soul, a slice of Las Vegas, Beatles-style melodies, and master Billy wraps it all up in his own musical box, pulling out one song after another.
He had a superb backing band to help him out, two members fewer than on the spring tour of the US, but no worries there. They backed Joel like a well-oiled machine, and it wouldn’t be right to single anyone out, since they won me over both with their playing and with their ideas. Billy Joel played a show two and a quarter hours long, and the whole time he made sure the energy never dipped for even a second. You only get this much piano wizardry and this kind of confident singing from him. The high notes he used to hit with no trouble in his youth, he carried off at the show in other, equally interesting registers. On two songs he got help from two Vienna-based musicians (accordionist Krzystof and violinist Aleksej – they’re originally from elsewhere, but that’s another story:-))), who made the performance feel fuller. I have no complaints about the lights or the sound, since the crew did their job to perfection. Billy Joel was the commanding central figure from start to finish, he kept cracking one joke after another between songs, and the rotating stage with the piano was turned a few times during the set so everybody got to see him from his best side. Let me spice up your reading with some of Billy’s quips. Right at the start he said the people in charge of the hall should have provided better cooling, since the audience had paid a hefty price for tickets (from 30 to 228 Euros). He added that he deserved the same treatment, because he’d be earning the most of anyone that night. The heat really was hellish. After the song Leningrad he explained that he’d borrowed two themes from it from Schumann and Grieg. Of course, he demonstrated it for us in detail. In the closing part of I go to extremes he played the piano with his rear end (his trademark move, but a very effective one). He also showed that he’s a master at swinging a mic stand, so good that even Robert Plant, Roger Daltrey or David Coverdale could learn a thing or two. He boxed the mic stand a few times and proved he hasn’t forgotten his boxing career. Naturally the crowd melted during Vienna and a bit of Strauss’s Na lepi modri Donavi, but hey, that’s how you stroke the fans’ souls. And that’s where Joel is a great master. The biggest surprise, though, was the announcement of a “religious hymn,” where the burly guitar tech Chainsaw became the lead voice. Joel strapped on an electric guitar and the opening chords of the AC/DC classic Highway to hell thundered out. The crowd had been on their feet for a while already, and this song pushed the temperature to boiling point. In the encore Billy Joel handed Piano man over to our vocal cords, and I think we did pretty well.
Maybe a comparison with the Eagles, who are Joel’s contemporaries in terms of years. The music is quite different, but in my humble opinion Joel outdid the Eagles with a much punchier and more emotional performance. I’m glad that at least a few Slovenes saw him, people who know what good music and an honest performance are.
Setlist
1. Prelude/Angry Young Man
2. Oda radosti (Song Of Joy)/My Life
3. Vienna
4. Everybody Loves You Now
5. Honesty
6. The Entertainer
7. Leningrad
8. Zanzibar
9. New York State Of Mind
10. The Downeaster Alexa
11. Allentown
12. Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
13. Big Man On Mulberry Street
14. An Innocent Man
15. I Go To Extremes
16. Keeping The Faith
17. Na lepi modri Donavi (An der schoenen blauen Donau)
18. She’s Always A Woman
19. The River Of Dreams
20. Highway To Hell (sung by guitar tech Chainsaw)
21. We Didn’t Start The Fire
22. It’s Still Rock N’ Roll To Me
23. Big Shot
24. You May Be Right
—encore—
25. Only The Good Die Young
26. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
27. Piano Man
lineup:
Billy Joel – vocals, piano, guitar
Tommy Byrnes – guitars
Mark Rivera – saxophone, keyboards, guitar, percussion
Andy Cichon – bass
David Rosenthal – keyboards
Chuck Burgi – drums
Carl Fisher – trumpet, cornet, saxophone
guests:
Krzystof – accordion (Downeaster Alexa, Vienna)
Aleksej – violin (Downeaster Alexa)
Photo gallery
