Skip to content

Recent News

Billy Joel performs live on stage with Axl Rose at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN on July 28, 2017

Billy Joel Rocks Minneapolis With Special Guest Axl Rose July 28, 2017

View and Submit Photos & Videos In The Billy Joel Tour Section!

Billy Joel made his Twin Cities debut at the old Marigold Ballroom in downtown Minneapolis in 1974. He played the first concert ever at Target Center in 1990. And on Friday he played his first outdoor concert in the Twin Cities at Target Field. … Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses joined a guitar-wielding Joel for a rollicking cover of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” … Other high points included a harmonica-punctuated singalong “Piano Man,” the spunky “Big Shot” (featuring Rose again) and a heartfelt “New York State of Mind,” on which Joel demonstrated the range left in his voice — nuanced, belting, high notes and low notes. – Star Tribune

His performance Friday was big, energetic and loud, much more so than the last time we saw him in May 2015, across the street at Target Center. The sold-out crowd seemed to feed off that energy, as well as the gorgeous summer evening. The only complaint about playing outside came from Joel, who was dressed in a full suit and tie. He kept a fly swatter atop his piano and told the crowd at one point he wasn’t worried about getting bitten, he was worried about inadvertently swallowing a fly. – Pioneer Press

Joel reminisced about his earliest shows in town, at the Marigold Ballroom (formerly on Nicollet and Grant), a venue more suited, he said, to Lawrence Welk, before the obligatory winter weather quips led into a Minneapolis-acknowledging instrumental jaunt through “Love Is All Around.” … There were bits of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” “You May Be Right” veered into Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll,” “River of Dreams” flowed into Motown for a bit of “Heat Wave,” Joel even perfectly recreated the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” in its entirety. – City Pages

While it makes sense for Rose, the substitute AC/DC singer, to deliver the band’s 1979 classic, Joel has actually been performing “Highway to Hell” during his main set for years, with his roadie “Chainsaw” tackling lead vocals. The Rose-Joel redux was thanks to some fortuitous timing: Guns N’ Roses’ latest North American leg of their Not in This Lifetime tour brought the reunited rockers to Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday night. – Rolling Stone

Billy Joel & Axl Rose – Highway to Hell
Fan video by Taylor Jackson

Billy Joel & Axl Rose – Big Shot
Fan video by Todd Ginter

Billy Joel, Alexis Joel, Della Rose Joel ride golf cart to tour Target Field in Minneapolis, MN on July 28, 2017
Billy, Alexis and Della Rose Joel ride in a golf cart to tour the stadium before Billy’s concert at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN, on July 28, 2017.

Billy Joel and his fly swatter at Target Field Minneapolis, MN July 28, 2017
Billy Joel readies his fly swatter during his concert at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN, on July 28, 2017.

Axl Rose and Billy Joel perform Highway to Hell at Target Field Minneapolis, MN on July 28, 2017
Axl Rose joins Billy Joel on stage to perform “Highway to Hell” during Billy’s concert at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN, on July 28, 2017.

Gavin DeGraw joins Billy Joel and band to perform You May Be Right at Target Field Minneapolis, MN on July 28, 2017
Gavin DeGraw joins Billy Joel and the band on stage for “You May Be Right” during Billy’s concert at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN, on July 28, 2017.

Billy Joel performs at Target Field Minneapolis, MN on July 28, 2017
Billy Joel on piano at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN, on July 28, 2017.

Billy Joel Set List – Target Field – Minneapolis, MN – July 28, 2017

Set list from Billy Joel concert Target Field Minneapolis, MN, July 28, 2017

Official photos by Jeff Schock