It’s been 40 years since Billy Joel last played a show in San Francisco, upgrading from the tiny Great American Music Hall to the Giant’s AT&T Park. I have to admit, Billy Joel is one of my favorite artists, up there with The Who, Beatles, and Beach Boys as the music I grew up with, My father, a native Long Islander, told stories of seeing Billy Joel perform in bars before making it big with Piano Man. Somehow, I’ve gone my whole life, most of it spent on the east coast, having never seen Joel live. I jumped at the chance to catch one of my family’s favorite acts on the west coast.
The venue, almost sold out but with many latecomers likely due to the BART shutdown of the weekend (Joel even made sure to sarcasticly thank the Bay Area Rapid Transit system for making it “so easy to get here”) was bustling with east coast transplants, like myself. Seems for some reason, there is nowhere near the west coast love for the singer of “New York State of Mind” and “Allentown.”
Opening the show with a one-two punch of “Big Shot” and “My Life,” Joel was quick to address his absence from San Francisco. Yes, he has played San Jose and Oakland more recently than four decades ago, I’m sure the notable absence of a large arena in the city proper hindered his return in more recent years. To show his appreciation for the Bay Area crowd, he would break up the set with a verse or two from local Bay Area artists – From Janis Joplin, Sly & The Family Stone, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana. The crowd absolutely loved this homage to the city where the summer of love began.
Joel continued on stringing the hits between what he calls the “album tracks” – the ones that didn’t get the airplay. The crowd clearly wanted hit after hit – Noticed by the lack of cell phones in the air for these album tracks. Songs like “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire” garnered huge response, with almost every personal device screen up for the entirety of the song.
In addition to bring a skilled musician, I learned a new trade for Billy Joel – comedian! His in between song banter with the audience is absolutely hilarious. From anecdotes about Ted Nugent’s use of throat spray (“It doesn’t work if you use it up your ass”) to a zinger about if Billy the Kid was “hung,” Joel left the audience feeling like they were at a family dinner and he was the funny uncle.
The show ended with Joel singing his seminal hit “Piano Man” before an encore of “Uptown Girl,” “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” and “You May Be Right.” Noticeably missing from the evening’s setlist however was “Only the Good Die Young,” Which had been closing out his sets the rest of the tour. Also absent was “Captain Jack,” which, for a San Franciscan audience, felt like a tremendous oversight – given the subject of the song.
Overall, Billy Joel still sounds absolutely fantastic and hits all the notes you remember from the albums. The setup at AT&T Park was second to none, and the entire experience was one of the greater concerts of my life. He certainly has earned the title of “The Entertainer!”