A beautiful sunny day, a sold out but calming crowd, standing in the middle of the Gold Circle at BST Hyde Park with the perfect view made for what was an absolutely incredible night!

How can you describe this show and do it the justice that it deserves? It’s a tough one! A stage full of some of the most exceptional musicians you will ever get the privilege to hear, Billy Joel and his band were met with one of the loudest, happiest cheers I have ever heard and let’s face it, a lot of happy tears too.

Kicking things off with My Life followed by Movin’ Out was a genius move! The crowd chanting along was a beautiful thing! What a way to get the audience going and to keep them engaged and excited throughout! That excitement was heard from his fans from the intro of almost every song. Every time he mentioned an album people went wild!

“I have some good news and some bad news” Joel tells the crowd “The bad news is, we have no new songs to play. The good news is, you won’t hear any new songs”.

Joel also stated how the sun was the brightest sun he had ever seen on stage and that it’s in England…

Joel has incredible stage presence. He has a way about him that makes everyone feel welcome and special. He is simply just fascinating to watch and to listen to whether it be when he is singing, when he is playing piano, when he is telling stories of his songs or when he has a bit of banter with his band.

His voice hasn’t aged, although he may argue that! One point he explained he can’t always hit the high notes for Innocent Man, but the crowd had him during those moments and carried him through. Innocent Man had a moment of hilarity when Joel and the band broke into Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones for a verse till he pretty much said “I can’t do that” and laughed!

Spinning around with his piano on his large turntable made a good view for most and it was a nice touch! The close ups of his playing on the screens had us in awe at just how freely and seemingly easily he plays it! What a gift he has!

Vienna was the most emotional part of the evening for me for personal reasons. The young girl next to me, also in tears seemed to agree! The beauty of an album track like Vienna which was never released as a single proves why albums need to be heard in their entirety! Vienna was a crowd choice as he gave us a multiple choice option between Vienna and Just The Way You Are!

Zanzibar, a crowd favourite was energetic! New York State of Mind was phenomenal! She’s Always a Woman to Me was another emotional moment with members of the audience getting their moment on the big screen!

Only The Good Die Young was a highlight as was Scenes From an Italian Restaurant. Hearing all of these tracks live was honestly something I thought that I would never get to experience! Memories of my childhood came flooding back and it took a bit to hold back the tears! I guess Vienna took the most of them!

The high calibre of musicians on stage were second to none. Joel showcases his band members a fair bit throughout the show! Highlighting their individual talents during solo segments of the show, we were treated with so much including backing vocalist and multi instrumentalist Crystal Taliefero taking the lead on River Deep and Mountain High (halfway through The River of Dreams) and Mike Delguidice singing Nessun Dorma.

“Oh my god he’s going to play it” I heard a woman cry. With that Joel attached his harmonica as he sat at the piano and of course, everyone knew what he was about to play. Piano Man was a euphoric moment! It’s such a classic song that can’t be matched and in a live setting it is almost indescribable. Everyone could feel it though, every word and every note, it was just sensational!

Leaving the stage, he of course returned moments later for an encore!

We Didn’t Start The Fire, one of the more difficult songs to sing along to apart from the chorus was a lot of fun! The backdrop videos helped us slightly by flicking onto a photo of each person, place and so on but I still couldn’t catch up! That’s part of what makes the song so great though!

Joel brought out Joe Jonas for Uptown Girl. An experience no other show will likely have, this was one of those “I was there” moments!

The encore still in full swing, It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me, Big Shot and a cover of Hard Day’s Night were next! Big Shot was particularly fun!

Closing for good this time with the song You May Be Right which flowed into Zepplin’s Rock and Roll – Joel, was in awe of his audience. There were moments throughout the set where he did look emotional but as he bid farewell his face started to fall into tears. A man with such a massively successful career and he was humbled by his Hyde Park audience! You could really feel his gratitude though! Everything about the entire performance felt like he really pushed himself to give us his all and he truly delivered!

Whilst I haven’t mentioned each song played, it was certainly a set list to celebrate! Joel played a 2hr plus set that was flawless and a definite core memory moment!

Even leaving the park, fans were singing Piano Man all the way to the train station!

There is no other artist quite like Billy Joel, he is one of the greatest singer/songwriters of all time and seeing him live was an absolute privilege. A true showman, his BST Hyde Park set was one of the most atmospheric, celebratory and warming live shows I have ever been to! There was so much love in the crowd, so much joy, it was obvious what this show meant to so many people and that’s what united everyone and made the atmosphere so incredible!

Thank you Billy Joel!