Heading into Raymond James Stadium on Saturday, February 24, 2024, in Tampa, Florida, the 52,000 crowd moved in an orderly and systematic way. There wasn’t chaos like at a Taylor Swift Concert, it was more in the order of heading to the opera. The night’s ticket was two of the largest music icons from the 1970’s and 80’s; Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner CBE, or “Sting” as he is commonly known as, and The Piano Man, Billy Joel.
To start the show at a few minutes past 7:00 pm, Sting came on stage to a rousing ovation as the crowd got to their feet. When the cheering died, Sting introduced Billy Joel who joined him on stage to another standing ovation as the two sang “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” a song by The Police, Sting’s previous band. This was before the audience even had warmed their seats. Three songs later, Orville Richard Burrell, otherwise known as the reggae rapper Shaggy was welcomed on stage to aid Sting in singing “Englishman in New York” from Sting’s 1987 album …Nothing Like the Sun.
Sting’s set predictably consisted of The Police’s greatest hits which included “Roxanne,” “Every Breath You Take,” and “Walking on the Moon,” which is exactly what the crowd had come to see. This concert was labeled a “one-off” show as the two are not touring together and this was the only time these two artists are going to perform together in 2024.
Band:
Sting – Vocals, Bass
Dominic Miller – Guitar
Zach Jones – Drums
Kevon Webster – Keyboards
Setlist:
1.Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (The Police song) (with Billy Joel)
2. Message in a Bottle (The Police song)
3. If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
4. Englishman in New York (with Shaggy)
5. If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
6. Spirits in the Material World (The Police song)
7. Fields of Gold
8. Brand New Day
9. Heavy Cloud No Rain
10. Shape of My Heart (snippet of Juice WRLD’s “Lucid Dreams”)
11. Walking on the Moon / So Lonely / No Woman, No Cry (The Police song / The Police… more )
12. Desert Rose
13. King of Pain (The Police song)
14. Every Breath You Take (The Police song)
15. Roxanne (The Police song)
Billy Joel was positioned out front of the band seated at his piano. He opened the show with “My Life” then took a break and asked the audience, “Why is it always so cold in Florida when I perform?” it was 58 degrees a little after 9:00 pm when the show started, and Billy was seated behind the piano and he was wearing a jacket to keep warm. Joel, coming up on his 75th birthday can still get the stadium rocking and rolling. The set was almost all Billy Joel’s greatest hits, except for a couple of cover songs, “Start Me Up by” The Rolling Stones, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by Solomon Linda’s Original Evening Birds. One of my favorite parts of the show when guitarist Mike Delguidice sang the Giacomo Puccini cover, “Nessun dorma” in Italian, man what a voice, then the show ended with a snippet of “Rock N Roll” by Led Zeppelin during “You May Be Right.” In all the set was 24 songs spanning two decades of Billy Joel’s discography.
Billy Joel always transports me back in time to my younger days starting in 1977 when I attended my first Bill Joel concert when he was opening for another unknown artist. Three months later, The Stranger was released on September 29, 1977. Billy never looked back as the album has sold more than 10 million copies to date and won Grammys for Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Just the Way You Are.” Even with 52,000 fans in attendance, Billy still makes his shows feel intimate like you’re hanging out in his backyard. He is a great performer!
Band:
Billy Joel – Lead Vocals, Piano, Keyboards, Harmonica, Occasional Rhythm Guitar
Mark Rivera – Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet, Vocals, Percussion, Keyboards, Rhythm Guitar
Tommy Byrnes – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Crystal Taliefero – Percussion, Vocals, Saxophone, Rhythm Guitar, Harmonica
Dave Rosenthal – Keyboards, Backing Vocals, Musical Director
Andy Cichon – Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Chuck Burgi – Drums, Percussion
Carl Fischer – Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Trombone, Saxophone, Clarinet
Mike DelGuidice – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Piano, Bass Guitar
Setlist:
1.My Life
2. Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
3. Vienna (Audience was given a choice… more )
4. Start Me Up (The Rolling Stones cover)
5. An Innocent Man
6. The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Solomon Linda’s Original Evening Birds cover)
7. The Longest Time
8. Turn the Lights Back On
9. Big Man on Mulberry Street (with Sting)
10. Don’t Ask Me Why (with Goldfinger intro)
11. New York State of Mind
12. The Downeaster “Alexa”
13. Allentown
14. Sometimes a Fantasy
15. Only the Good Die Young
16. The River of Dreams (with “River Deep, Mountain… more )
17. Nessun dorma (Giacomo Puccini cover) (sung by Mike Delguidice)
18. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
19. Piano Man
Encore:
20. We Didn’t Start the Fire
21. Uptown Girl
22. It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
23. Big Shot
24. You May Be Right (with an interlude of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll”)
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Photographer and Editor/Founder of AllMusicMagazine.com. My love of live music has taken me to incredible experiences with the top bands of all time in stadium shows to the smallest venues with equally inspiring musicians. Using the medium of photography and my publication, these memories will last forever.
