{"id":20425,"date":"2017-08-14T14:55:51","date_gmt":"2017-08-14T19:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/?p=20425"},"modified":"2017-08-14T14:55:51","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T19:55:51","slug":"billy-joel-wrigley-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/billy-joel-wrigley-field\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Joel Plays the Hits at Wrigley Field"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"billyBilly Joel opened his concert on Friday at Wrigley Field<\/a> with a confession. He told the faithful at the Friendly Confines that he did not \u201chaving anything new to play.\u201d But that didn\u2019t prevent Joel from selling out Wrigley Field for the fourth straight year. The reason being that nobody wanted anything new from Joel; the crowd just wanted him to the play the hits.<\/p>\n

And boy did he.<\/p>\n

Billy Joel played for two and half hours and ripped through 29 of his best tunes which the loyal fans knew every lyric. He wisely stuck to hits from his most prolific period: the 70s and 80s. \"billyHe even let the fans in on choosing the set list. Playing off the baseball motif, he offered the crowd a few \u201cfielder\u2019s choices\u201d in which he named two songs and, by way of loud cheers, the crowd chose which one the band played. Which led to the only downer of the night: the crowd choosing \u201cVienna\u201d over \u201cJust the Way You Are\u201d (sometime democracy lets you down).<\/p>\n

It was impressive to see the band (and crew) adjust to these quick choices. But it shouldn\u2019t have been unexpected as the band is a murders\u2019 row of musicians. Among them was \u201cutility player\u201d Crystal Taliefero (who basically played every instrument there is: backing vocals, saxophone, harmonica, percussion), drummer Chuck Burgi (who got into the spirit of the night by wearing a Cubs jersey), guitarist Mike DelGuidice (who might have had the best moment of the night when he sang the operatic aria \u201cNessun Dorma\u201d pitch perfectly). Even with all of these amazing performers on stage the one who stood out was saxophonist Mark Rivera. \"billyHis sax solos were so rich and full of emotion that they took the night and the audience to a much higher level.<\/p>\n

Billy Joel, who\u2019s 68-year-old, showed no signs of slowing down. He might not be able to jump around on stage anymore, but his fingers can still bang on the piano keys like they did when Joel \u201cwore a younger man’s clothes.\u201d Joel\u2019s piano proficiency is amazing: at times his fingers glided on the keys like a ballet dancer and at other times banged them like a jackhammer. The sound that his piano playing produces is unparalleled.<\/p>\n

\"billyOf course, he ended the set list with \u201cPiano Man\u201d to the delight of the audience, who all put their arms around each other and swayed in unison. The encore included \u201cWe Didn\u2019t Start the Fire\u201d, \u201cUptown Girl\u201d and the best song of the night: \u201cOnly the Good Die Young.\u201d Whose title, considering that this is Joel\u2019s sixth time playing Wrigley Field, the most of any performer, doesn\u2019t make any sense. Billy Joel has endured the test of time because he is that good<\/em>.<\/p>\n

No doubt many in attendance Friday night were already looking forward to seeing Joel at Wrigley again next year.<\/p>\n

Photos by K. Joseph Fotos. Full Gallery Here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Billy Joel opened his concert on Friday at Wrigley Field with a confession. He told the faithful at the Friendly Confines that he did not \u201chaving anything new…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":20426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2699,1092,148,2016,91,534],"class_list":["post-20425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-category-music","tag-billy-joel","tag-concert-review","tag-concerts","tag-concerts-in-chicago","tag-live-music","tag-wrigley-field"],"yoast_head":"\nBilly Joel Plays the Hits at Wrigley Field | UrbanMatter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Classic tunes took center stage as Billy Joel, a Wrigley Field concert veteran, brought fans at the ballpark to their feet.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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