Concert Review: Billy Joel at the Hollywood Bowl

Billy. Freaking. Joel. 

It's nigh impossible to capture the feels of finally seeing the one and only Piano Man in concert. After first discovering his music in 6th grade science class, I had gone out and bought his greatest hits CD, secured a copy of his sheet music book, and both played and listened to his ballads, doo wop ditties and rock jams non-stop. I even went and watched his "Movin' Out" musical with my fellow Billy Joel fan and oldest friend Mark. Some dozen years later, that sheet music book now has a bunch of pages falling out, and I've moved on to listening to his original albums on vinyl, but my fandom of Billy Joel has not waned one bit.

Having just finished finals and my second year of law school, I was on cloud nine. One of those nights you look back and remember fondly for the rest of your life.

Venue

The Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, CA.

- Saturday, May 17, 2014.

- My first time at the iconic Hollywood venue, and more importantly Joel's first ever performance there as well. I thought it interesting that Joel several times made comments about his time living in Los Angeles (in the Hollywood Hills), often with hints of not caring for it so much, and yet the crowd automatically loved any reference anyway.

- One such example: he prefaced "Piano Man" by telling us that the gig he sings about in the song was at a bar on the corner of Wilshire and Western. A location we had passed on our way to the bowl.

Recap

- I knew I had to get tickets once a tour was announced for 2014, Joel's first national tour in some two or three years at least. At first it was Madison Square Garden that was announced, and I legitimately thought about seeing him in NYC, but then luckily a slate of what wound up to be three shows was announced for Hollywood.

- I considered myself very lucky to have a girlfriend who also appreciated Billy Joel's music with me at the show. I looked around and noticed a few diehard fans there by themselves.

- Opener Gavin DeGraw was decent, but the crowd seemed to not really care. Such is the case when you have a crowd of mostly middle-aged and older fans.

- Joel came out just after 9 o'clock, on a Saturday. Pretty good crowd, indeed.

- Joel made a point of playing some of his lesser hits, which was pretty neat, but it also meant the omission of a few really good songs that I was hoping to see (Uptown Girl, Just The Way You Are, The Longest Time, My Life, We Didn't Start the Fire). I could see a long-time fan really loving the opportunity to hear some seldom-played in concert songs though.

- Joel had no bones about criticizing his own stuff. When one fan called for "Honesty," Joel responded by saying, "Honesty? Nah, that's another one of those bulls*** songs."

- Joel and his band played "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (for obvious reasons) for the first time in some 20 years. Prefaced the song by saying that they might mess up, which would at least prove that everything is live and not just a recording.

- The entire Hollywood Bowl crowd taking over the vocals on "Piano Man" was every bit as magical as one could imagine.

- Joel's range is not quite as high as it once was, but I didn't mind the key being tuned down a few notches. His showmanship and piano playing skills more than made up for it.

- Loved the sax solos and the overall immaculate performance of the backing band.

- Joel covered "Surfin' USA" by the Beach Boys, which makes for the second straight (legendary) act I've seen that has paid homage to them. I later found out that he covered "Your Song" by Elton John in another one of his later shows at the Bowl.

- During the encore, an unannounced Adam Levine came out on stage to help sing "Big Shot." I didn't recognize him at first with his bleached blond hair, but Traci did have a minor heart attack when she realized it was him up there.

- Favorites of the night: Miami 90210, Pressure, Vienna, New York State of Mind, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man

Setlist

Miami 90210 (See The Lights Go Out On Broadway)

Pressure

Everybody Loves You Now

Vienna

Zanzibar

Partial cover of "Layla" by Derek and the Dominoes

Ballad of Billy the Kid

Where's the Orchestra?

Allentown

The Entertainer

Say Goodbye to Hollywood

New York State of Mind

Sometimes a Fantasy

Movin' Out

She's Always a Woman

Don't Ask Me Why

River of Dreams

Interlude cover of "Surfin' USA" by The Beach Boys

Scenes From an Italian Restaurant

Piano Man

It's Still Rock n' Roll To Me

Big Shot

You May Be Right

Only the Good Die Young