Billy Joel Manchester 2018
When Billy Joel took to the stage at Old Trafford last weekend and started to tinkle those piano ivories, he trickled out what is known in these parts as Glory, Glory Man United - or at least that’s what the crowd lustily sang back. He gives a cheeky grin and then launches into one of his best loved hits, My Life, setting the tone for a night of witty ditties, Billy’s Bronx humour and some seriously spine-tingling music. With a career spanning five decades and with 13 albums to pick from, it’s a night of fan favourites as well as some album gems, and covers of some of the artists that inspired him. She’s Always a Woman to Me really pulls on the heartstrings - as sons pull their mums into hugs, husbands snuggle up to wives and the whole crowd sings tenderly along. The mobile phones light up the stadium as 50,000 sway along to the oompah beat of Piano Man to close the main show. He returns to stage with guitar for a rocking encore of We Didn’t Start the Fire with huge flames on the video screens, and of course he couldn’t leave Manchester without a reprise of his most iconic hit, 1983’s Uptown Girl.
My Life
Pressure
The Entertainer
Vienna (fan choice)
The Longest Time (fan choice)
Half a Mile Away
Zanzibar
New York State of Mind
Movin Out
Don’t Ask Me Why
Sunshine of Your Love (Cream cover)
Ruby Tuesday/ Honky Tonk Women (Rolling Stones covers)
House of the Rising Sun (The Animals cover)
Glad all Over (Dave Clark Five cover)
Good Times Bad Times (Led Zeppelin cover)
The Downeaster Alexa
Allentown
Fire (Jimi Hendrix cover)
Some kind of Fantasy
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen cover)
She’s Always a Woman to Me
River of Dreams
Hard Day's Night (The Beatles cover)
A Day in the Life (The Beatles cover)
Nessun Dorma (Puccini cover)
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
Piano Man
Encore
We Didn’t Start the Fire
Uptown Girl
It’s Still Rock n Roll to Me
You May Be Right