It had taken him more than half a century to finally make it to Wales, but Billy Joel gave the sold out crowd a night they would never forget. When the roof is closed at the Principality Stadium, the giant venue transforms into a gargantuan indoor arena that makes the atmosphere just that little bit more special. And with the piano man and his band turning in a spellbinding set that ran almost two and a half hours long, this really was one very special evening.
Accompanied by a stellar band, including one time Rainbow member David Rosenthal on keyboards, and seated at his famous rotating piano, Joel began with ‘Movin’ Out’, one of his earliest hits, and the sound soon settled down for a sublime ‘Just The Way You Are’. With his just completed Madison Square Garden residency stretching back to 2014, this was a well polished set with each song perfectly delivered, the band never missing a beat. Taking to his feet, Joel moved stage centre for a burst of ‘Start Me Up’, followed by ‘An Innocent Man’ and ‘The Longest Time’, both of which proved that he remains in superb voice, even if he admitted to needing a little help with the high notes.
The set consisted of a combination of deeper cuts such as ‘The Downeaster Alexa’, sweeping epics ‘New York State of Mind’ and ‘Scene’s From An Italian Restaurant’, and joyous sing-a-longs ‘Allentown’ and ‘River of Dreams’. All of which served as a reminder of just how gifted a songwriter Joel once was. The latter segued into a raucous Tina Tuner tribute of ‘River Deep Mountain High’ led by Crystal Taliefero, and was followed by guitarist Mike Delguidice singing a stunning ‘Nessun dorma’. But the biggest cheer of the night was when Joel’s daughters joined him on stage and 9 year old Della Rose took over on vocals for ‘My Life’. After the obligatory ‘Piano Man’ closed the main set, everyone from front to back took to their feet for the encore that included ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ and ‘Uptown Girl’, sending everyone home with a smile on their faces.
Setlist:-
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Pressure
The Entertainer
Just the Way You Are
Zanzibar
Start Me Up
An Innocent Man
The Longest Time
The Downeaster “Alexa”
Allentown
Vienna
My Life
New York State of Mind
Only the Good Die Young
Sometimes a Fantasy
The River of Dreams
Nessun dorma
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Piano Man
We Didn’t Start the Fire
Uptown Girl
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
Big Shot
You May Be Right
