The Piano Man, Billy Joel Takes Over Washington DC

Billy Joel
July 30, 2016
National Park- Washington, DC

Washington DC: Saturday July 30th a very well known Piano Man took over Nationals Park despite the dreary and disappointing forecast. Mr Billy Joel himself, being the only artist to play at Nationals Park three times and so close to selling it out came back to the nation’s capital.

The weather seemed to hold up until around 4:30 in the afternoon, the dark clouds took over Washington DC as did the nonstop rain and scattered thunderstorms. As every single fan in attendance piled into the stadium the storm seemed to pick up, forcing opener Charlie Puth to cancel his set and had evacuating fans who had field seats and lower level seating take cover in the concourse until the storm has passed. It was a bit chaotic in my opinion due to the concourse being way over packed with fans, but there was nothing anyone could do.

Around 9:30 pm, Joel got the thumbs up to go on with the show and give the fans what they wanted, a rainy, fun-filled set. Still raining, Joel took on the rain, and played his heart out. Just to mock the storms, Joel played a snippet of a Gene Kelly song, Singin’ in the Rain. Joel also played his very infamous hits such as New York State of Mind, My Life and he ended his 18 song setlist with Piano Man.

Just when the fans thought it was over…it wasn’t. Joel came back out on stage to play another six songs as his encore, playing a good handful of popular songs such as Uptown Girl, It’s Still Rock & Roll to Me, Big Shot and he ended the night with Only the Good Die Young.

Despite the crazy weather and the slight delay, it is safe to say that Billy Joel is one of the most amazing musicians I have seen. He gave his all to DC that night and that’s all that mattered.

Review by: Alyssa Howell