Playing a soldout Fenway Park in Boston for the third summer in a row, Billy Joel didn’t hold anything back, with a rockin’ and rollicking two hours, 25-minute show Thursday night that included 28 songs in all, spanning all his many hits, as well as a couple of local favorites. … After some of the night’s most intense rocking, it was simply sublime to hear the full impact of merely Joel’s piano and voice on the stripped down “And So It Goes.” … Joel’s “She’s Always a Woman to Me” was sung in vintage form. After that Mike DelGiudice began strumming some familiar chords, and then singing a heartfelt “Sweet Caroline,” as the band joined in, which quickly had a chorus of 30,000-plus roaring along with him, seeming to amuse, and perhaps even shock, Joel with their enthusiasm. – The Patriot Ledger
A brief instrumental of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” led into the keyboard pounding “Angry Young Man” at the start of his 145-minute show. He followed with the synthesizer-drive “Pressure” and partially successful playful stab at The Standells’ “Dirty Water,” which he admittedly did not know all of the lyrics. Joel looked fit and sang amazingly well. … While he tossed in lesser known numbers like “And So It Goes” and “Vienna,” there were plenty of hits for casual fans, like “My Life,” “Movin’ Out” and “Sometimes a Fantasy.” – MassLive
Joel and his eight-piece band found magic in lesser-known fan favorites aimed right as his cult. “Big Man on Mulberry Street” clobbered the crowd with big, brassy horns and jazzy chord changes. Framed only by Joel’s simple piano, the hymn-like “And So It Goes” documented dying love. In the light of disasters and distressing modern life, “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” hit with hard emotions it didn’t evoke four decades ago. – Boston Herald
Bradley Bartlett-Roche, the 13-year-old musician who calls himself the “Boston Piano Kid,” got to perform with Billy Joel at Fenway Park on Aug. 18. Joel introduced Bartlett-Roche to the crowd and had a little fun with him when he got on stage. “You know after this, it’s all downhill,” Joel joked. “It might be a little anticlimactic after this. It took me 60 years to get here!” Joel and Bartlett-Roche then proceeded to play the instrumental song “Root Beer Rag” together, and the youngster held his own. – The Boston Globe
