Billy recently visited Cornell University for a new Evening of Questions & Answers on Friday, December 2nd. To get a preview of this Q&A, here are some article excerpts about his visit. Billy has visited a large number of schools over the years in order to share advice with students, and you can watch videos from past visits in our Billy Joel “Questions & Answers” section.
In his 2.5-hour Dec. 2 show, the quintessential “Piano Man,” Billy Joel, playfully answered some 20 questions from the audience, scurrying between two Steinway pianos to play anything from snippets to full blown renditions of about two dozen songs, from Bach and The Beatles to his own. …Joel played, sang, shared stories from his life — and hammed it up. Leaping across the stage as if in a ballet — despite a double hip replacement he later mentioned — he wriggled as if washing in the shower and impersonated such musical buddies as Elton John, Ray Charles and Paul Simon. – Cornell Chronicle
“This is my outfit for tonight,” Billy Joel, donned in a Cornell hoodie and cap, explained to the full house at Bailey Hall on Friday night. “I left my clothes at home.” Right away Joel made it clear that he didn’t intend for the night to go as a normal concert does. Rather, he asked for audience questions, and here and there treated us to a bit of music on either piano or electric keyboard, or in Joel’s words, his piano and his “abbreviated piano. It has pianist envy,” he joked, pointing to the small keyboard. – Cornell’s Slope Media Group
“If a piece of music is good enough, it’s for everyone.” This seemed to be the most powerful part of Billy Joel’s question and answer session in Bailey Hall at Cornell University last Friday night. The show, put on by the Cornell University Programming Board along with the Cornell Concert Commission, and dubbed “Billy Joel: An Evening of Questions and Answers…and a little music” was without a doubt one of the coolest, most interesting, and funniest live shows I’ve ever seen. The show was more of an unconventional format where the audience would ask questions and Billy Joel would provide answers in the forms of stories and music. – WVBR.com
