Typically, rock and roll concert tours are intended to help promote an artist’s latest offering. As the cycle normally goes, there’s the new album followed by the tour to support the album as has been the norm for decades. Leave it to veteran New York rocker Billy Joel to defy that tradition. This piano man hasn’t released a brand new album of pop songs since Bill Clinton resided in the White House…and even he is somewhat amazed that he can still pack a concert venue to the rafters like he did Friday night at Amalie Arena.

After his dazzling performance of the 1974 nugget “The Entertainer,” a song that unapologetically pokes fun at the somewhat limited shelf life the music industry affords pop stars, Joel chuckled “Look at me…I haven’t been on the charts in 25 years…it was in 1993 that my last album charted!”

But to the more than 20,000 folks who occupied every single seat at the downtown Tampa arena, that point was irrelevant.

What the capacity crowd got was another strong, commanding overview of the Billy Joel oeuvre where almost each and every one of his albums was represented. Throwing obvious nods to his longtime, staunch supporters while simultaneously satisfying the most casual of fans, Joel truly knows how to work a crowd. Sporting a snazzy black suit jacket, black slacks and a patterned tie, Joel looked more the part of a businessman rather than one of the best-selling rockers of all time. But he certainly got down to business…and fast. At 68 years old, Joel isn’t as mobile and adrenalized as he was in his heyday. These days, his more common spot is at a piano bench atop a revolving platform that makes it possible for him to face each and every portion of the venue at one time or another… and that was perfectly OK with the energized audience who wildly cheered on every number.

Opening with the slow burning anthem “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” from his stellar 1976 album Turnstiles, the first of the night’s many bones were thrown to the diehards. Scattered cheers from the seats were prominent throughout the song as its New York references were sung. Brooklyn, 42nd Street, the Yankees, Harlem are all mentioned in this powerful number and smatterings of cheers from northeastern transplants rang out throughout the arena. But nothing compared to the response to one of the songs final lines where Billy sings “…before we all lived here in Florida…” that found the whole place going wild. Was it due to the mere mention of our home state? Or was in reaction to the truth behind the sentiment as so many ex-Northerners now make their home in the Sunshine State? Actually, it was a lot of both.

And for the next two-and-a-half hours, there was plenty to cheer about. Starting with the obvious call for applause which drove Joel’s desire to let audience members choose songs to be performed by way of noise levels. Jovially explaining how some of the night’s selections would be determined, Joel offered at several occasions throughout the night that we’d have a say on what songs would be played by putting choices that hail from the same album head-to-head. Sometimes the experiment worked flawlessly; but sometimes it wasn’t as effective. The battle between “Stiletto” and “Zanzibar,” two of the finest album tracks from 1978’s 52nd Street album, was a dead heat. Cheers abounded for both selections but ultimately, the jazz-inspired “Zanzibar” was the winner. A stupendous performance of the song featured a show-stopping trumpet solo from horn section member Carl Fischer that drew plenty of applause.

The head-to-head battle was a little less competitive when Joel and his dynamic eight-piece band (featuring the truly electric backing vocalist, percussionist and musician Crystal Taliefero who worked her ass off all night long) arrived at Billy’s little-known 1971 debut album, Cold Spring Harbor. His “fielder’s choice” as he labeled it was met with little response when the choices were offered. Instead, Joel opted for “Everybody Loves You Now,” a somewhat more recognizable selection from that record.

Injecting humor and personal musings between songs, Joel served up jabs at Madonna, a comical story about crooner Frank Sinatra’s reluctance to turn 70 years old (a milestone Joel himself will soon reach) and cracks directed at the folks sitting in the upper levels of the arena. “I hope you didn’t pay a scalper for those tickets!,” he joked before humbly and proudly making it known that this was his eighth visit (and probably his loudest) to our spacious downtown multi-purpose building.

BILLY AT TAMPA'S JAI ALAI FRONTON

Music Issue: Where the music played — historic Tampa Bay venues

Plenty of hits made up the bulk of the set list but in continued acknowledgement to the days when he relied on patrons in a bar putting bread in his jar, Joel dug way back and blew the dust off more forgotten treasures. Performing 1973’s “Stop In Nevada” — a virtually unknown track from his Piano Man album — back-to-back with 1982 hit single and MTV staple “Allentown” was a ballsy move but again served as Joel’s calculated method of wisely including something for everyone in the house.

A spontaneous snippet of Paul Simon’s “Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard” cleverly and flawlessly led into Joel’s own similarly-paced “Don’t Ask Me Why” as did Joel’s stab at Led Zeppelin’s “Fool in the Rain” that spilled into his classic “Only The Good Die Young.” A second Led Zep nod came during the encore-closing rocker “You May Be Right” when a gritty take on a verse from Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” was thrown in by guitarist and singer Mike DelGuidice. DelGuidice had already won over the audience with his stunning solo performance of “Nessun Dorma,” the aria from Puccini's opera Turandot that served as the intro to Joel’s epic “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” which sounded as fresh and energetic as ever. Strapping on an electric guitar, Billy moved away from his grand piano and took center stage for his history lesson hit single “We Didn’t Start the Fire” as images depicting the songs pop culture references flashed on the colorful floating projection screens that hung above the stage. Joel remained front and center for two of his signature songs too: “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” found him twirling and tossing his mic stand and “Big Shot” was loaded with all the attitude and snarl with which it was written in the late 1970s.

When you haven’t released any new music in decades but still have the magnetism and the rock solid body of work to draw sell-out crowds all over the world, you’re doing alright. Billy Joel is living proof of that…just don’t ask anyone who attended Friday’s show yet; audience members are probably still dealing with ringing ears and hoarseness from singing along all night long with their favorite piano man of all time.

Click here to listen to a playlist of songs from the show, and see more photos plus a setlist below.

Set List

Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)

Pressure

Everybody Loves You Now

Vienna

The Downeaster Alexa

Movin’ Out

All About Soul

The Entertainer

New York State of Mind

Zanzibar

Stop in Nevada

Allentown

My Life

She’s Always a Woman

Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard/Don’t Ask Me Why

Sometimes a Fantasy

River of Dreams

Nessun Dorma /Scenes From an Italian Restaurant

Piano Man

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We Didn’t Start the Fire

Uptown Girl

It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me

Big Shot

Fool in the Rain/Only the Good Die Young

You May Be Right/Rock and Roll



