FROM THE VAULT: OTD 30 Years Ago (10/15/1994) – Billy Joel Rocks, Breaks in New Kiel Center

– by Sean Derrick

(Originally published October 22, 1994 Edwardsville (IL) Intelligencer)

(Editor’s note- Kiel Center was the name of the current Enterprise Center when the building opened in 1994.)

 

Rock star Billy Joel christened the sparkling new Kiel Center in downtown St. Louis last Saturday with a sparkling 2- and 1/2-hour performance that ran like a greatest hits evening.

After a 15-minute delay (building personnel were having trouble shutting off the lights so the show could begin) Joel came out, guitar in hand, and ran crisply through “No Man’s Land” and the up-tempo

“Pressure”.

Although it didn’t seem like it at the time the first part of the show actually turned out to be the slow half, even though songs such as “Allentown” and “Angry Young Man” lifted the crowd of nearly 20,000 to their feet. Joel’s solid rendition of “My Life” had everyone dancing in front of their seats.

Joel himself was full of energy running all over the stage as he went from a revolving piano at center stage to two keyboards situated at the back corners of the stage.

The stage itself was of the “in-the-round” style, even though it was positioned at the north end of the Kiel Center. Joel tried his best to accommodate all in attendance as he sang directly to the fans seated behind and to the sides of the stage instead of just to the ones in front.

The playlist read like a greatest hits collection, from his classic “Moving Out” to his recent hit and title track of his current album River of Dreams, and on to the ever chilling “Goodnight Saigon”.

Joel not only did a greatest hits package of his own material, he also performed a shortened version of Sting’s “Roxanne” as well as The Beatles’ “She Loves You”, to which he remarked “THIS is the reason I’m here tonight.”

Joel must have been watching too much of MTV’s Led Zeppelin weekend since he churned out portions of one Zep song after another. From “Good Times, Bad Times” and “Communication Breakdown” to Dazed and Confused” and “Rock and Roll”, Joel wailed and pitched an eerily representative Robert Plant impersonation, Zep mania stopped when, during the intro to “Stairway to Heaven”, Joel blurted out “I just want to know; what the Hell is a ‘bustle in the hedgerow’?”

Just about everything went well for Joel on Saturday, and he didn’t even screw up the lyrics to “We didn’t Start the Fire”, preserving the bet he had made with the Eagle’s Don Henley.

Joel Seemed to get more energetic as the night wore on, smashing through classics like “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”, “You May be Right”, and “Only the Good Die Young” before coming back for encores of “Big Shot” and his trademark closer “Piano Man”.

The Kiel Center has such great acoustics that one can hear everything beautifully no matter where they are seating, a terrific change from the old Arena on Oakland.

The new Kiel Center is massive, yet surprisingly cozy, and there was really no better performer to introduce the building to music that Billy Joel. If any of the future acts that play Kiel are half as good as Joel was on this night, then all I have to say is “Crank up the amps, let’s party!”

(Check out the gallery of photos after the setlist below)

Billy Joel Setlist:

No Man’s Land

Pressure

The Ballad of Billy the Kid

New York State of Mind

Prelude/Angry Young Man

Allentown

Scenes From an Italian Restaurant

My Life

I Go to Extremes

Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)

Goodnight Saigon

Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)

The River of Dreams

Roxanne (Sting cover)

Good Times Bad Times/Communication Breakdown/ Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin covers)

We Didn’t Start the Fire

She Loves You (The Beatles cover)

It’s Still Rok and Roll to Me

You May Be Right

Only the Good Die Young

Encore:

Big Shot

Encore 2:

Piano Man