I saw Billy Joel this weekend in an outdoor concert in Great American Ballpark (Reds outdoor stadium) in Cincinatti. What a great show.
It has been a lifelong dream for my daughter (now in college in Southern Michigan) to see Billy Joel in concert. But seeing him at his monthly show in MSG in NY is really pricy (getting to and staying in NYC, etc). Going to see him in Cincinatti just luckily worked out. It seems like a pretty clean nice city, as far as large-ish cities go. Lots of cool history to see with parks, bridges, steamboats, and Reds baseball history / legends.
We were about 100 feet from the stage, on the outfield grass of the ballpark. Billy Joel still has a great voice and pretty decent energy for a 72 year old. But he was totally wiped out by the end of the show. I think he said his last album (River of Dreams?) was released in 1993. Almost 30 years ago. He just has a lot of great songs, both from a music and lyrics standpoint IMO.
He is real, up front, doesn't do any gimmicks or make any excuses about playing his "old stuff". The musicians on stage with him (sax, trumpet, keyboard, percussion players, and Italian opera singer) were top notch. Great music with no distortion, nothing to make your ears bleed or head ring for hours afterward.
He mixed in some good tribute songs (or parts of them) - two by Rolling Stones, one by Led Zeppelin, one by Poco Harem - (Whiter Shade of Pale) who Billy Joel opened for last time he was in Cincinatti.