Billy Joel? The Piano Man? Yep. I am a super casual Billy Joel fan and did not plan on going but got married 3 weeks before this and received tickets as a wedding gift from my wife’s aunt. We made the ill decision of taking the trolley into downtown which in and of itself is fine, but we always forget that it takes almost an hour because of all the stops in between. We got into downtown and had a little time to grab a drink so we went into the Old Spaghetti Factory thinking that the bar area would be relatively empty compared to a traditional bar. Wrong. That place was popping but we managed to get a large beer in us before heading over to Petco Park, which is surprisingly a pretty cool place to see a concert with the beautiful skyline as a backdrop. I had previously seen DeadMau5 and Paul McCartney there. Our seats were nearly as far away as they could possibly be but we did not care. Just being there was cool. Billy Joel came out and started about 8:30. He said he had not been in San Diego “since I was here with that other guy about 15 years ago.” Then he started singing “I don’t have much money” referencing Elton John’s “Your Song” and said “you have plenty of money motherfucker.” He seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself. I can always respect that out of a performer that has had to play the same songs literally thousands of times. The first hour of the show started out a little slow and as a casual fan the only song I really knew in that first hour was “The Longest Time.” Then he kicked it into high gear and killed it for the final hour starting with my personal favorite “Movin’ Out.” Then he played “She’s Always a Woman” and “My Life” before doing an electrifying cover of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” with one of his roadies singing. Billy Joel doing a cover of AC/DC??? Awesome. Then he played “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “The River of Dreams,” and a cover of the Eagles’ “Take it Easy” before playing the crowd favorite “Piano Man.” The place just erupted with everyone going nuts. He finished up with “Uptown Girl,” “Still Rock And Roll To Me,” Big Shot,” “You May Be Right” with a little Led Zeppelin tacked on to the end and closed with “Only the Good Die Young.” So happy I got to see this guy!
