BST Hyde Park 2023 - Billy Joel

As I have already said on my previous post, I had made a mental connection between Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen back in 1978 when Billy Joel's "52nd Street" and Bruce Springsteen's "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" were advertised side by side on the back cover of a Greek music magazine called "Pop & Rock". Last year I bought tickets for both Springsteen shows at Hyde Park wondering who would play on the Friday between them. And sure enough later that year it was announced that it was going to be Billy Joel. So, I bought one for his show as well! 

Now, Billy Joel fans, back in the day were unique. There weren't that many of them but they were dedicated. As far as I'm concerned the first record of his that I bought was was "The Nylon Curtain" because I loved his single "Pressure". But listening to the whole album I was able to appreciate other songs like "Allentown" and "Goodnight Saigon". A decade later I also considered "The River Of Dreams" to be one of his masterpieces. But my favourite Billy Joel track is one I didn't know back then: "You May Be Right". I discovered this in the late '00s because it was regurarly played at the parties organized by a DJ Team called DramaQueens UglyShufflers at that time.

So once again I walked to Hyde Park after stopping at Selfridges to get some music magazines because in the year 2023 it is now more difficult than ever to find print magazines in London. After getting a Billy Joel t-shirt at the mechandize stand I went and secured a place at the front of the General admission area right at the barrier with the Golden Circle. As I have mentioned in my previous post, my view was  sometimes blocked by people at the back of the Golden Circle, but I don't regret my choice because of the people I met at that spot, namely a guy who had benn in Greece way back in 1974 and his daughter. He was teasing me by telling me that he hoped Bruce Springsteen the next day would be half as good as Billy Joel. But the amazing thing was that his 20 year old daughter was also a Billy Joel fan! Not to mention that they held my place for me so that I was able to go for some drinks...

The first act to appear were Bowen Young. My first impression was that they were a country rock duo. I was expecting every support act to be a country rock act although that was not the case. They were quite good though.

 

Next up, was Natasha Bedingfield. I knew her of course although I had only bought a CD single by her brother "Gotta Get Through This". She even played that, too, along with other covers from Prince ("Purple Rain"), Taylor Swift ("Anti Hero") as well as her own songs of course.

 

 

Then it was time for someone who I had forgotten that he was appearing that night: An old acquaintance from the 80's, Daryl Hall. Nostalgia seeped in as he played most of his hits with John Oates from that period such as "Maneater" and "Out Of Touch".

 

 

 

Finally, it was time for Billy Joel. His only European appearance this year! He launched immediately into "My Life". Then he told us that he had some bad news and some good news. The bad news was that he didn't have a new record out. The good news was that because he didn't have a new record out, he wasn't going to play any new songs. So he proceeded to play all the hits and his best ones. Somewhere between songs, he talked about Bruce Springsteen falling from the ladder the previous night. We were hoping for a guest appearance from Bruce since they were both in town that night, but we only got one of The Jonas Brothers on "Uptown Girl". And as if he knew this was my first concert of his, he saved the best for last, my favourite, "You May Be RIght".

 

 

 

 

 

As a result, I went back to the hotel walking the length of Oxford Street with a big smile on my face (although that probably had something to do with the fact that I was going to see Bruce again the next night...)

SETLISTS:
NATASHA BEDINGFIELD
01. Love Like This
02. Pocketful Of Sunshine
03. Single
04. Soulmate
05. The Scientist
06. Weightless / Anti-Hero / Gotta Get Thru This / Just the Way You Are
07. Purple Rain
08. Wild Horses
09. These Words
10. Unwritten

DARYL HALL
01. Maneater
02. Dreamtime
03. Family Man
04. Out Of Touch
05. Method Of Modern Love
06. I'm In A Philly Mood
07. Everytime You Go Away
08. Sara Smile
09. I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)
10. Rich Girl
11. You Make My Dreams

BILLY JOEL
01. My Life
02. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
03. The Entertainer
04. Vienna
05. Zanzibar
06. Start Me Up
07. An Innocent Man
08. The Longest Time
09. Don't Ask Me Why
10. New York State of Mind
11. Allentown
12. She's Always A Woman
13. Sometimes A Fantasy
14. Only The Good Die Young
15. The River Of Dreams
16. Nessun Dorma (Sung by Mike Delguidice)
17. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
18. Piano Man
Encore:
19. We Didn't Start The Fire
20. Uptown Girl (with Joe Jonas)
21. It's Still Rock And Roll to Me
22. Big Shot
23. A Hard Day's Night
24. You May Be Right