The Piano Men
Two men, both in their early 50’s. One from England, one from America. Facing each other on a stage, nearly thirty feet of two black grand pianos between them. No opening act – who could open for this? – no need to warm up the crowd. They knew what they came for.
The best piano pop songwriter in England in the last quarter century? Has to be Elton John. And America’s best piano pop songwriter in America during that same time? He hasn’t been heard from lately, but Billy Joel would be on the short list of candidates for that title. Last night, both were on a stage just outside Chicago.
They opened together, singing duets of songs we have all heard a thousand times, but not quite this way. Your Song came first, then Just the Way You Are, with John and Joel alternating verses while both kept playing those pianos, answering each other almost chord by chord. Then came John’s Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me. You got the impression, twenty minutes into this concert, that the two of them could sit there all night, tossing out one great song after another, and still be at it come morning.
They’re too old now to do that, I’m too old to stay awake that long, but for the next three hours there was some great music coming from the stage. While Joel, celebrating his 52nd birthday, rested backstage, John and his band did an 80-minute set including much of his best work from the 1970’s, including spectacular versions of Levon and Rocket Man. There are so many songs he could do, it has to be tough to pick which ones to leave out during these shows. And, toward the end of the set, he performed one famous Joel song that Joel himself might have trouble performing these days: Uptown Girl.
After Elton’s set, Joel returned for a lengthy set of his own, including some hits and some covers, at least three saxophones wailing in the background, along with a couple of backup singers from Texas who seemed to be there only to remind him what Christie Brinkley used to look like when she was young. There was some good music there, including a cover of Elton’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and a great finish with Only the Good Die Young.
But it was the two of them, and their pianos, that everyone had come to hear. And after Joel’s set, both of them and their bands came out for one last set, two pianos, two great songwriters, and a bunch of good musicians spinning out one memorable song from the past after another.
Finally, the bands left, but the crowd didn’t.....and the two piano men stayed on, late in the evening now, for two more songs. Elton sat down, then Billy, and those familiar chords from Candle in the Wind made their trademark appearance......but this time with two pianos alternating the chords and the verses. And everyone knew that there was one song left they hadn’t heard, but couldn’t be left out of a night like this.....Joel’s The Piano Man, started by Joel on the harmonica, then continued by Elton on the piano and again with both alternating the lyrics. After awhile both stopped singing altogether, and the words continued, from every corner of the auditorium. |
