Billy Joel closed the 2015 edition of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, TN, giving the crowd a show that isn’t your usual Bonnaroo fare.
Joel is 66 now, so there was no running across the stage, spinning on the piano or any of the other antics Joel used at an earlier age. As a matter of fact, the only spinning was the stage on which Billy and his piano were set, switching sides with almost every song.
For the first half of the show, Joel very rarely got off his piano stool, instead letting the action on the stage mainly come from his large group of backing players. Then, towards the end of the main set, he put on a red Gibson guitar and brought out his roadie, only known as Chainsaw, for a blistering version of AC/DC’s Highway to Hell. Joel looked like he was enjoying being a backing musicians for a bit.
He then stayed on the stage with the guitar for We Didn’t Start the Fire. Other than two songs at a stage front microphone during the encore, it was all piano all the time.
Being a festival show, the set was short five or six songs from his normal performance, but he kept the fairly standard format he has used for a number of years. Lesser known album tracks, including one or two from his pre-Piano Man days, early in the set followed by a near constant string of hits from mid set to the end.
As for Joel’s performance, it’s hard to tell if the weather at the outdoor venue may have been giving him some problems. He started very strong but, about halfway through the main set, his voice seemed to lose some power, especially during She’s Always a Woman where it almost sounded week. The voice regained its strength shortly after and stayed strong to the end.
The other slightly troubling thing was that Joel seemed very out-of-breath between each of the songs. Again, it may have been more weather related but here’s hoping there isn’t some underlying medical problem.
For the record, Joel only missed playing at least one song from two of his albums, Turnstiles (1976) and The Bridge (1986).
The set list:
Main Set
My Life (from 52nd Street, 1978)
Pressure (from The Nylon Curtain, 1982)
Everybody Loves You Now (from Cold Spring Harbor, 1971)
Zanzibar (from 52nd Street, 1978)
All for Leyna (from Glass Houses, 1980)
Allentown (from The Nylon Curtain, 1982)
The Entertainer (from Streetlife Serenade, 1974)
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) (from The Stranger, 1977)
Sometimes a Fantasy (from Glass Houses, 1980)
She’s Always a Woman (from The Stranger, 1977)
Don’t Ask Me Why (from Glass Houses, 1980)
Highway to Hell (AC/DC cover) (performed by roadie “Chainsaw”)
We Didn’t Start the Fire (from Storm Front, 1989)
The River of Dreams (from River of Dreams, 1993)
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant (from The Stranger, 1977)
Piano Man (from Piano Man, 1973)
Encore
Uptown Girl (from An Innocent Man, 1983)
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me (from Glass Houses, 1980)
Big Shot (from 52nd Street, 1978)
You May Be Right (from Glass Houses, 1980)
Only the Good Die Young (from The Stranger, 1977)
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