Heres an story from ABC
Billy Joel said goodbye to 1999 Friday night by performing in an extended length concert that featured surprise guests and some songs that have not been played live in many years.
Early in the evening Joel made sure to thank the crowd for not succumbing to the fears surrounding the new millennium by celebrating New Year’s Eve in Madison Square Garden. Joel also thanked his fans and apologized to them for the inflated ticket prices. Even though seeing Joel was an expensive ticket, the native New Yorker was able to completely sell out the concert.
In an exclusive chat (next page) with ABCNEWS.com prior to the show, Joel responded to questions from online users. One user asked, “Do you plan to do any tours in the year 2000?”
His response: “No I do not. I do not plan to tour at all any more,” said Joel. “However, I may do some “Master Classes”, which are a combination of questions and answers, mixed with some song performances and a lot of funny stories about what a crazy job I have.”
One of the nice touches added to what may be Joel’s final performance were several video screens giving every fan in the arena no matter what price they paid for the ticket, an opportunity to see Joel’s facial expressions and rapid piano playing (in songs like “Angry Young Man”) up close. One Performance, Several Surprises.
Richie Cannata, Joel’s sax player for many years starting in the mid 1970s, was the first special guest and was introduced just prior to the song “New York State of Mind.” Cannata played the original sax solo on that song. Cannata stayed around throughout the entire evening to play several other songs with a complete horn section — another new edition to the Joel tour.
The horn section turned up on such songs as “The Ballad of Billy the Kid,” “Only the Good Die Young,” “Big Man on Mulberry Street,” “Miami 2017,” “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” and “You May Be Right.”
David Brown, a guitar player who also worked with Joel in the 1970s, came out to perform on several songs, including “This is the Time,” and “Allentown.”
A choir was the third set of surprise guests. The choir sang harmony on “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “Two Thousand Years,” and “River of Dreams.”
“We will also be doing some songs live that we have never tried live before — also taking the chance that they may fall flat on their faces,” Joel told ABCNEWS.com. “But if there was ever a night to take a chance, tonight’s the night!”
One of those was “I’ve Loved These Days”, which he hadn't performed in public since 1976, the year it came out.
Another song he hadn’t played in six years until recently was “Uptown Girl”, written about his ex-wife Christie Brinkley.
Midnight Celebration
As the concert approached midnight, a clock provided the countdown on the video screens and later aired the dropping of the ball at Times Square. At the stroke of midnight, confetti and balloons flooded Madison Square Garden. This lasted for what seemed like 10 minutes and at times made it difficult for the band to play.
Joel performed two songs that appeared on ABC-TV and were also distributed to an international audience. At approximately 11:45 p.m., Joel played “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” and at 12:15 a.m. he played “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.”
Always the ‘Piano Man’
Joel ended the show with “Piano Man,” probably his most famous song and a common wrap-up to his concerts. After that, Joel spent several minutes hugging band members, shaking hands with the crowd, standing on top of the piano beating his chest and then eventually left the stage. It seemed as if he was soaking all the appreciation of the fans in and did not want to leave the stage.
During the show, Joel said people kept asking him if this was his last concert. The fans attending the New Year’s Eve show never did hear the answer to that question, but he certainly left them longing for more.
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