A friend of mine recently told me something that’s stayed with me for the last several weeks. We were talking about music and how much of a role it plays in our everday lives. He said that within 15 years, pretty much all of our musical heroes will have passed on. It took a moment to resonate with me and, yep, that’s a pretty accurate description of the Dickensian future that awaits.
But, in the meantime, we get to enjoy pairings such as the first-time co-headlining tour of Rod Stewart and Billy Joel. In a massive announcement last winter, the city leaders hinted at a “really big show” coming to Cleveland later this year. In a press conference it was announced that, no, not Taylor Swift, but Billy Joel would be returning to the 216 for a show at Browns Stadium. While Swifties mourned, we old-timers were happy to hear that a prodigal son was returning to the southern shores of our big lake.
Stewart, at a spry 79-years of age, came out with all the energy of a man half his age. He got some cardio in as he bounced all over the white-floored stage, swinging the mic stand around like a jumprope.
Employing three separate outfit changes, his second interstitial were a bright yellow blazer and blue trousers. He asked the audience to keep Ukraine in their thoughts, to which he received a rousing applause. And, with that, politics came to a close. He allowed his backup vocalists to shine on a Pointer Sisters cover, “I’m So Excited,” as he took a breather and donned the new outfit.
A majority of his set were covers; his resume is loaded with hits, but he decided to pull out many tunes that others had made famous prior to his rendition. Offering nineteen tunes over a ninety-minute set, thirteen of them were covers. To be fair, Stewart recorded many of them decades ago and brought many of these forgotten-songs to a new audience. Encoring with “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy,” the almost-octogenarian had that question answered quickly, as a packed Huntington Bank Field roared in approval.
After a quick stage reset, Billy Joel came out to his baby grand. Waving to the crowd, he took a seat and got down to business. The nine-member band, including longtime members Mark Rivera on sax and Crystal Talieffero on percussion and backing vocals, led us into “Moving Out (Anthony’s Song).”
Over the next two-and-a-quarter hours, Joel took us on a veritable greatest hits tour of his career. Song after song were all classics; early set offerings such as “Vienna” and “Zanzibar” were received well by the crowd.
Joel, at 75 years old, had to take the occasional breather, but the energy produced by him and the whole band buoyed the whole show. Wearing a black shirt, gold necklace, and a black casual jacket, it was a stark departure from the suit and tie that Joel usually wears onstage.
Stewart came out early in the set and the duo sang “Stay With Me,” a Faces tune made popular by Stewart about a thousand years ago. Seeing both of these icons onstage at the same time was a first for any crowd.
After a very-spirited rendition of the gospel-tinged “River of Dreams,” Joel’s recent addition to his set, Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” was delivered as a late-set palette cleanser. Joel, who hasn’t released an album since 1993, has embraced classical music as his new passion. Giving the audience a little taste of Puccini was refreshing and a departure from a man who’s name his fortune on Top 40 radio.
“Piano Man,” of course, finished out the night before the band returned for a five-song encore.
Rounding out the night were “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” followed by “Uptown Girl,””It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me,” and then “Big Shot” and “You May Be Right.”
If both men, who are definitely looking and sometimes sounding their age, never come through Cleveland ever again, then perhaps this show is the perfect swan song. We can acknowledge their mortality while honoring their incredible contributions to popular music over the last half century. After all, their music has been the soundtrack to all of our lives.
