![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773382568_525_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nBilly Joel sold out Carnegie Hall in Manhattan on Thursday night \u2014\u00a0except he wasn\u2019t onstage. He was seated in the audience for “The Music of Billy Joel,” a star-studded charity event\u00a0featuring 20 acts performing songs from his catalog and backed by Joel’s touring band. One hundred\u00a0percent\u00a0of net proceeds from the event will go to\u00a0music education for underserved youth programs in New York City and beyond.<\/p>\n
It was a rare public appearance for Joel, who announced in May that he had been diagnosed with the brain disorder\u00a0normal pressure hydrocephalus\u00a0and needed to cancel all his upcoming performances.\u00a0Since then, he has\u00a0been keeping a relatively low profile while undergoing physical therapy in Florida.<\/p>\n
Fans kept turning their heads and snapping pictures of Joel, who sat in the second tier on the left side of the stage.<\/p>\n
Artists including\u00a0Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, Pat Monahan of Train, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Natalie Merchant, Rufus Wainwright, Gavin DeGraw, Wyclef Jean, Matt Nathanson, Joel\u2019s daughter Alexa Ray and several others lent their talents to the show, held in the Stern Auditorium, for a two and a half hour performance.<\/p>\n
Show producer\/owner of City Winery Michael Dorf told the crowd: “A bottle of red, a bottle of white. How about a bottle of ros\u00e9 instead?\u00a0It\u2019s pretty obvious why I love Billy Joel. We are here to celebrate the Piano Man. With 160 million albums sold worldwide, his music has entered\u00a0the collective unconscious of all our souls.”<\/p>\n
The evening began with a triple shot from 1977\u2019s diamond-selling “The Stranger.” English singer-songwriter Yola opened the show with a sassy version of “Movin\u2019 Out (Anthony\u2019s Song),” followed by Thomas\u2019 touching rendition of fan favorite “Vienna.” Monahan continued the balladry with “She\u2019s Always a Woman.”<\/p>\n
Joel\u2019s keyboardist-organist David Rosenthal served as musical director. Also working with Rosenthal Thursday were\u00a0his fellow band mates: saxophonist Mark Rivera, percussionist Crystal Taliefero, guitarist Tommy Byrnes, bassist Andy Cichon, drummer Chuck Burgi and trumpeter-trombonist-saxophonist Carl Fischer with guest pianist Dan Orlando. Missing was vocalist-guitarist Michael DelGuidice, of Miller Place, who had a conflicting gig.<\/p>\n
The audience was still with awe as Carpenter delivered a haunting performance of Joel\u2019s favorite song, \u201cAnd So It Goes.\u201d Meanwhile Nathanson did an acoustic version of \u201cI Go to Extremes\u201d then earned a standing ovation for his passionate performance of \u201cMiami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)\u201d while unveiling his \u201cShut Up I\u2019m Listening to Billy Joel\u201d t-shirt.<\/p>\n
After Indiana singer Jon McLaughlin pulled off \u201cEverybody Loves You Now\u201d from Joel\u2019s 1971 debut album, \u201cCold Spring Harbor,\u201d Alexa Ray got behind the mic to take on \u201cThis Night,\u201d a rare album track from her father\u2019s 1983 multi-platinum album, \u201cAn Innocent Man,\u201d done cabaret-style in an elegant black dress and long white gloves.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad, I want to dedicate this song to you, my music hero\u2026you and Beethoven,\u201d she said. \u201cI also want to dedicate this to my mother [model Christie Brinkley], who is my golden muse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wainwright aptly followed her performance with the song Joel wrote for his oldest daughter, \u201cLullabye (Goodnight, My Angel).\u201d<\/p>\n
Powerful soul singer Ledisi daringly sang\u00a0Joel\u2019s latest songwriting creation his 2024 single, \u201cTurn the Lights Back On.\u201d A surprising pairing of O.A.R. lead singer Mark Roberge and violinist Itzhak Perlman, who arrived on a scooter, brought the house down with \u201cThe Downeaster Alexa.\u201d Perlman revealed it was secretly him on the original recording and said, \u201cThank you Billy for the opportunity!\u201d<\/p>\n
Bettye Lavette put a bluesy emotional spin on \u201cShe\u2019s Got a Way\u201d and flipped the lyrics to \u201cHe\u2019s Got a Way\u201d accompanied by Rosenthal on piano. Staying put at the keys, Rosenthal turned a cappella song, \u201cThe Longest Time\u201d into a piano instrumental at Joel\u2019s request due to its classical structure.<\/p>\n
Halfway through the show Todd Kamelhar of the Joel Foundation addressed the crowd and acknowledged Joel, who waved\u00a0to his fans when the spotlight hit him. This caused the \u00a0crowd to get rowdy chanting, \u201cLET\u2019S GO BILLY! LET\u2019S GO BILLY!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jean, formerly of The Fugees, brought some swagger to the second half of the show on \u201cMy Life\u201d with the help of seven student musicians dubbed Music Will. Additionally, Chicago-based singer Neal Francis chose\u00a0\u201cStiletto\u201d adding a \u201870s funky touch\u00a0while singing and playing piano.<\/p>\n
In an interesting twist, jazz-pop singer Sammy Rae from Brooklyn arrived center stage with nothing but a ukulele to give \u201cThe River of Dreams\u201d a new vibe. Rae kept Joel\u2019s band on its toes by making them play a deep cut, \u201cGet It Right the First Time\u201d from \u201cThe Stranger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merchant approached \u201cAllentown\u201d with sincerity noting she felt connected to the song coming from a rust belt town. \u201cI felt like he was singing about us,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n
Joel\u2019s band took over for the epic, \u201cScenes from an Italian Restaurant\u201d with Orlando on vocals.<\/p>\n
A burst of energy stemmed from R&B singer Curtis Harding\u2019s \u201cUptown Girl\u201d and DeGraw\u2019s \u201cBig Shot.\u201d But it was NY pop sibling duo Lawrence that got everyone up and dancing\u00a0on \u201cOnly the Good Die Young.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew McMahon, lead singer of rock band Jack’s Mannequin, had the daunting task of tackling Joel\u2019s signature tune, \u201cPiano Man.\u201d<\/p>\n
The evening concluded with Joel\u2019s regular rockin\u2019 encore of \u201cYou May Be Right\u201d with the cast collectively singing on stage.<\/p>\n
The evening raised $225,000 in support of music education for underprivileged students.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\tDavid J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday’s exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billy Joel sold out Carnegie Hall in Manhattan on Thursday night \u2014\u00a0except he wasn\u2019t onstage. He was seated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5184,157,75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-162153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-billy-joel","tag-entertainment","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}