It’s been over a year now since Billy Joel last played live. Last March the singer songwriter announced that he had to undergo surgery for the brain condition Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus - which affects memory, balance and movement - and was cancelling all scheduled dates.
With no news yet whether he’ll be able to make a full return to the stage, a tribute concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall has been organised for March 12. The ‘Music Of Billy Joel’ evening will feature his entire touring band as well as Rufus Wainwright, Rob Thomas, Tanya Tucker, Wyclef Jean, and Mary Chapin Carpenter, amongst others.
The show is the latest in the series of Music Of... tribute shows at the venue organised by the long-standing New York promoter, Michael Dorf. Over the years, he’s staged a number of shows celebrating figures from Dylan to Springsteen, Led Zeppelin and Aretha Franklin to Prince.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Dorf explained that he had been mulling over the idea of a Joel tribute gig for a while: “I reached out, and they immediately responded positively. I think there’s a lot of love for Billy, and a desire to hear his music. The fact that it is his band, that’s exciting for people. We sold out without a single artist mentioned who’s performing, and we got a great lineup, as people trusted. Fingers crossed, let’s see if we have any special guests.”
It remains to be seen whether Joel will turn up to his own tribute. His only live appearance since his surgery was a couple of months back when he made a surprise cameo at a show in Wellington, Florida by Turnstiles, a Joel tribute act. Together they performed Big Shot and – remarkably, given his recent brain surgery – his rapid-fire lyrically dense classic We Didn’t Start The Fire.
Could the 76-year-old piano man reprise the feat next week? Dorf simply points out that like every act he’s paid tribute to, he’ll be invited: “There’s a box for the band, and if we’re lucky and they want to jump on stage, great. But it’s really for them as much as it is anybody.”
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