Billy Joel celebrates 75th birthday with low-key (for him) Madison Square Garden show
Billy Joel rang in his 75th birthday Thursday night with just his band and roughly 19,000 adoring fans at Madison Square Garden, the arena that has become a second home to him over the past 10 years.
“I just want to say how grateful I am for all you guys coming out to hear us,” Joel said a few songs into the show, after the audience had sung “Happy Birthday” while his band members presented him with a multitiered cake. “I didn’t think I’d be doing this at 75.”
The milestone show turned out to be relatively low-key by Joel’s standards. There were no television cameras to record the event, as there had been in March for the 100th show of his decadelong residency at the Garden. And there were no musical guests — a bit of a surprise given that other shows have featured guest appearances by Bruce Springsteen, Miley Cyrus, John Mayer and others. (Joel may be saving some star-power for July 25, the date of his final Garden residency and his 150th show there overall.)
Instead, Joel and his fine-tuned band ran through one of their typical set lists, a two-plus-hour collection of hit singles and fan favorites, plus an ever-changing assortment of deeper cuts from his 13-album career.
Joel kicked off with “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” and “My Life,” two of his better-known singles from the '70s, but followed them with “Everybody Loves You Now,” a song from his little-loved debut album, “Cold Spring Harbor,” released in 1971 when he was just 22.
“You don’t have that album,” Joel told the crowd, yet an audible portion of the arena sang along with every word. That was also true for “Vienna,” a non-hit that has grown into a must-play, and even “Zanzibar,” an unabashed Steely Dan knock-off from 1978 (Carl Fischer played the trumpet solo during the song’s dreamy, “Aja”-influenced bridge.)
Joel could be seen wiping his left eye occasionally, which he explained as a leaky eye. “I’m not crying,” he said firmly, adding, “A lot of weird [expletive] happens when you’re 75.”
Joel seemed to be in a talkative and relaxed mood for this birthday show. He gamely endured a round of boos when he mentioned that he’s spending more time in Florida, and another round when he plugged his upcoming final show. “But there’s no reason we couldn’t come back here,” he said, changing the boos to cheers.
A number of songs came from Joel’s 1980 album, “Glass Houses,” including “All for Leyna,” “Sometimes a Fantasy” (complete with push-button telephone intro) and a shaggy version of “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me.” There was also an aggressive rendition of “A Room of Our Own,” from Joel’s 1982 album, “The Nylon Curtain.”
The show ended, as many Joel shows do, with “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” and “Piano Man,” followed by an encore that included “Big Shot” and the closer, “You May be Right.” With a cheeky curtsy and wave, Joel signed off — just another night’s work for the 75-year-old entertainer.
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