From Zanzibar to London - Billy Joel at BST Hyde Park

Welcome back to our final instalment of our BST Hyde Park 2023 series! We previously wrote about the pop extravaganza that was P!nk’s Summer Carnival on June 25th, plus the excellent three-hour show by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on July 6th. Now we’re back for one more round that features Billy Joel and his band playing a two-hour headliner, with support from Daryl Hall, Rumer, Natasha Bedingfield, BOWEN * YOUNG and Alyssa Bonagura.

‘What’s up BST?’

Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, Alyssa Bonagura is a country artist who played an eight-song set for the good-sized crowd gathered around the Birdcage Stage. Alyssa and her four-piece band performed tracks new and old for the audience, including songs taken from her new EP ‘Fly With Me’.

The charismatic singer won the crowd over with her infectious enthusiasm, telling them she’d seen Paul Simon play BST in 2018, but this was her first time on a Hyde Park stage. Towards the end of her set, she and the band felt brave enough to play a brand-new unreleased song, which got an excellent reception before closing with her track ‘I Make My Own Sunshine’.

From here, we headed to The Great Oak Stage to catch its first act – BOWEN * YOUNG. A duo made up of vocalist Clare Bowen and guitarist/vocalist Brandon Robert Young, their delicate cover of Beyoncé’s ‘Halo’ was the first song we saw. Clare asked the audience if anyone had a hangover that day, before playing their track ‘Hair Of The Dog’.

Clare Bowen and Brandon Robert Young. Image Credit: Dave Hogan / Hogan Media.

‘Is everyone looking forward to Natasha Bedingfield? Is everyone looking forward to Daryl Hall? Is everyone looking forward to Billy-freaking-Joel!?’

There was a cheer in between each question. BOWEN * YOUNG also felt brave enough to play some brand-new songs, the next one was even a live debut! The duo’s set and modest band was full of sincerity, especially for their track ‘Aurora’ where Clare Bowen discussed the notion of true love. BOWEN * YOUNG would play London’s Omeara on July 10th, featuring other BST acts on this day, Sophia Alexa and Alyssa Bonagura.

If you’re not eager to read our third part on food consumption within the park, scroll ahead now. Between BOWEN * YOUNG and Natasha Bedingfield’s sets, we headed back towards the Birdcage Stage in search of dinner. This time we’d indulge in a delicious Venezuelan chicken rice bowl, with beans and jalapeños.

I have nothing but admiration for the selection of food on offer at BST, as audiences have long moved on from burger vans and bowls of chips. But the great thing is – those things were on offer too. Depending on your appetite on the day, you really could satisfy your tastebuds, and the food was quality. Additions like this only serve to enhance an experience like BST Hyde Park.

The water situation had also improved. Unlike our experience with P!nk, we didn’t pay for any water on this day. There were extra water dispensers and reduced queues for them, so everyone could fill up, just as we did. With all this said – the rest of this piece will focus purely on the music.

Natasha Bedingfield. Image Credit: Dave Hogan / Hogan Media.

We headed back to The Great Oak Stage in time to catch the very beginning of Natasha Bedingfield’s set. With the band already on stage, Bedingfield walked out to join them for ‘Love Like This’. The Top 20 single got people singing straight away.

Natasha asked the audience to raise their hands if they were in a relationship, then to raise them if they were single. This one would be for them. ‘Single’ was her debut single, reaching #3 in the UK Official Chart in May 2004. As Bedingfield’s band consisted of a drummer and guitarist, some of the music was on a track. But ‘Soulmate’ was performed acoustically, her drummer hopping from behind the kit to tap his drums from the front.  

‘If I wrote this, I could retire.’

Remaining in the acoustic realm, we didn’t expect to hear ‘The Scientist’ by Coldplay. This would be the beginning of a few cover songs from Bedingfield. Natasha’s track ‘Weightless’ was from her ‘Strip Me’ album of 2010. It would be coupled with a medley of familiar songs – Taylor Swift’s ‘Anti-Hero’, Daniel Bedingfield’s debut #1 single ‘Gotta Get Thru This’ and ‘Just The Way You Are’ by Bruno Mars. The next cover would be a big hit with the crowd – Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’. Bedingfield’s guitarist really showed the crowd what he could do on this track, not playing Prince’s solo to the letter but working in his own style.

Unfortunately, Natasha and the band began to run into technical difficulties. Due to the heat of the day, their playback system began overheating. Bedingfield’s biggest hits ‘These Words’ and ‘Unwritten’ would be the casualties, but the band took it in their stride, performing acoustically with the crowd singing along regardless.

Rumer. Image Credit: Dave Hogan / Hogan Media.

At the conclusion of Bedingfield’s set, we dashed to the Rainbow Stage for the first time in this series to catch Rumer’s performance. Her voice was captivating, as we knew it would be. Of all the artists we heard at BST that day, Rumer’s voice would be the most astonishing, you couldn’t help but want to hear more. The audience were attentive, absorbing every word, every note that emanated from the stage, including the whistle solo in ‘Bristlecone Pine’ taken from her album ‘Nashville Tears: The Songs of Hugh Prestwood’. Her most recent album of 2020 would feature four of its songs in the set, but not before Rumer sang her ode to Aretha Franklin from her debut album ‘Seasons Of My Soul’, titled simply ‘Aretha’.

‘Pizza and Pinball’ was taken from her album ‘Into Colour’ and was co-written by Rob Shirakbari on piano, inspired by his childhood growing up in Arkansas in the 60’s and 70’s. It’s easy to see Rumer’s idealisation of the time and place in her performance. It was homely, as if the listener themselves had lived it. Sandwiched between two more songs from ‘Nashville Tears’, Rumer played ‘Slow’, the track that first drew me to her music, and it sounded just like the first time. Audience members closed their eyes and swayed to the song, Rumer’s delivery impeccable as ever.

Daryl Hall.

Our last movement of the day took us back to The Great Oak Stage where we’d stay for the remainder of the night. Daryl Hall’s band took to the stage to play a hit-packed set of mostly Daryl Hall & John Oates songs, with a sprinkling of Hall’s solo material. They got the crowd immediately on side for ‘Maneater’ despite Hall’s saxophonist running into an onstage technical issue. Charles DeChant is a staple of the Daryl Hall & John Oates band, having played on the original track.

‘Good to see you guys man!’

‘Dreamtime’ was one of a couple of solo songs from Daryl Hall, taken from his 1986 album ‘Three Hearts In The Happy Ending Machine’ and his only solo chart hit in the US. ‘Family Man’ was written by Mike Oldfield and included on his ‘Five Miles Out’ album in 1982, but the duo had a US hit with it in 1983. The hits kept coming with ‘Out Of Touch’, a reminder that the artists really had a good run in the 70’s and 80’s.

It's often forgotten that Daryl Hall & John Oates were the original artists to write and release ‘Everytime You Go Away’, later made famous in the UK by Paul Young. Switching from guitar to piano, this is where Hall would remain for the rest of the set, this song featuring both organ and saxophone solos.

Daryl Hall’s set would conclude with a trio of big tracks, beginning with ‘I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)’, a Top 10 single in the UK for the duo in 1982. The extended jam in the track continued to put a spotlight on Hall’s band, including their backing vocals. The audience sang along right from the start to ‘Rich Girl’, Daryl & John’s earlier smash from 1977. Finishing off the hour or so of hits, the band closed with ‘You Make My Dreams’, setting the scene for a similarly hit-packed set from Billy Joel that evening.

Billy Joel.

Billy Joel’s band began walking on stage to Randy Newman’s symphonic ‘End Title’ to the film ‘The Natural’. A drum fill by Chuck Burgi brought in the rest of the band for the intro to ‘My Life’, including Billy Joel, who launched right into action on the grand piano. Wearing sunglasses to ward off the setting sun, his voice was remarkably like the Billy Joel the audience had in their heads. Now playing only a handful of gigs a year, Billy and the band were still a well-oiled machine. ‘My Life’ is from his ‘52nd Street’ album of 1978, one of a few cuts the band would play from that record this evening.

Forgoing speaking to the audience for now, Joel instead counted the band in for a rendition of ‘Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)’ from ‘The Stranger’, the album that would see the biggest showing this evening. Brass and woodwind were handled by Carl Fischer and long-time bandmember Mark Rivera. It was after this song where Joel spoke to the audience for the first time:

‘I got good news, and I got bad news.’ Bad news? How could there possibly be bad news?

‘The bad news is, we don’t have anything new to play for ya.’ The crowd cheered.

‘The good news is, you don’t have to hear anything new!’ Unified celebration came from the audience. This would be a greatest hits show.

‘It’s amazing, I’ve played all over the world, this is the brightest sun I’ve ever seen on stage, it’s in England!’ Hyde Park really did have a way of being illuminated by the setting sun, and the stage was rarely in shadow. Billy Joel played a melody at the piano for a moment before continuing.

“This song is from an album that came out in 197…5? The album was called ‘Streetlife Serenade’.” There was a cheer – the album was also released in 1974. “Don’t bullshit me, you don’t have that album. Nobody bought that album. This is the one single that the record company got from that album, this is called ‘The Entertainer’.”

The opening synth part by Dave Rosenthal was very of its time, like Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, somewhat at odds with its acoustic backing. The overall lyrical flow and melody could be a Kenny Rogers song. Dropped from the setlist for a number of years, it made its reappearance in Billy Joel’s shows in the noughties, where it has stayed ever since.

‘Thank you! Thank you. Thank you very much. I’m very far away from you guys. Last night I went to see Bruce Springsteen.’ He introduced Rosenthal before offering the audience a choice.

“The first choice is my first big hit single after ‘Piano Man’, which was recorded by Barry White so everyone thought it was his song and the song was called ‘Just The Way You Are’.” A reasonably big cheer followed. The other choice was ‘Vienna’, with the cheer for that easily outweighing the former. Which would it be?

Of course, it had to be ‘Vienna’, the audience had chosen. Joel’s playing in this is so moody, another track taken from ‘The Stranger’. Interestingly, this song was the B-Side to Joel’s original take of ‘Just The Way You Are’. Heading back to ‘52nd Street’, ‘Zanzibar’ is an album cut. ‘Oh you like this one? Ok.’ Billy Joel was candid in his interactions with the audience, responding to their tone if he was showing them his songs for the first time. The jazz break in ‘Zanzibar’ transported you to another time, no doubt helped by Freddie Hubbard’s studio performance on trumpet, magnificently recreated here by Carl Fischer to massive cheers from the audience.

The next song had an introduction of ‘Start Me Up’ by The Rolling Stones, was this in tribute to the band’s famous escapades at this very park? Billy danced around like Mick Jagger, he even sang some of the words before calling a halt to the band. After this, Joel gave a disclaimer to the audience about the next song he recorded in 1983:

‘I was kissing goodbye to a lot of high notes. I didn’t think I’d be doing this song in my seventies, ok? I didn’t think I’d be doing this gig in my seventies! Anyway, so, there’s a part in this song where it goes for a really high note, and I’m always worried I’m not gonna hit it. So this is my disclaimer. If I don’t hit the note, I’m sorry. I’m always paranoid about it, so pray for me will ya?’

It was the title track to ‘An Innocent Man’, his homage to Ben E. King and The Drifters. With its 80’s production evident in the rhythm section, the bass playing from Andy Cichon was especially prominent in this song. By all accounts, Joel hit the note he was meant to hit, with assistance from the Hyde Park crowd.

‘Thank you, I kinda did it. Woo, glad that one’s over! What’s next? Ok, from the same album…’ Billy joked about what key the song was in, as if this wasn’t a regularly performed piece in their repertoire. Perhaps he was referring to the preceding clip of The Marvelows’ ‘I Do’.

‘Ok, ok, ok. Who starts this off?’

It was ‘The Longest Time’, and this would be a homage to doo-wop groups of the early 1960’s. The backing vocals were handled by most of the band, ringing out beautifully across the park, with the audience’s clapping keeping the beat. This would be the last song from ‘An Innocent Man’ until much later.

Image Credit: Dave Hogan / Hogan Media.

“Thank you! Thank you very much. Ok this is a song from an album that came out in 1980, and that was called ‘Glass Houses’.”

The first to be played from this album, this was the Latin-inspired ‘Don’t Ask Me Why’. At times I could swear the positioning of the piano had changed on stage, until I realised it was in fact on a rotating platform, so it didn’t matter to the audience down the front which side they stood on. They’d all get an even view of Billy Joel’s piano playing. This would be particularly used for this song, as Joel’s hands scaled up and down the keys.

Soulful playing from Joel brought in ‘New York State Of Mind’, you could almost see the smoky Manhattan club he was playing in the back of, a sound not dissimilar to Lou Reed’s ‘Berlin’. This would be the only song Billy Joel would perform from his ‘Turnstiles’ album of 1976. It occurred to me, the way this song was making me feel was potentially how an American audience felt about localised British music. It took you places, and New York is a place I’ve never been. Mark Rivera would play a sensational saxophone solo in this song.

A train rolled into Hyde Park for ‘Allentown’, taken from 1982’s ‘The Nylon Curtain’. The video screens would similarly feature industrial works, of factories and cogs turning, drawn and animated in a style not unlike AI works finding their way to the internet.

“Ok, this next song is from ‘The Stranger’ album, from 1977. I think this one’s an advertisement here in Britain.” Billy Joel briefly paused as it appeared somebody near the front needed help, ‘Somebody pass out? Is there a medical emergency? You guys need help?’ It was unclear what was happening. ‘Ok, do I start this one?’

It was Joel’s enduring track, ‘She’s Always A Woman’. As he played, the cameras centred on several women in the crowd, some embarrassed, some excited, but plenty happy to be there. This was the loudest the audience had sang so far, eclipsing the pianist in sheer volume.

“Very good, you guys are singing too, that’s nice. Uh, what are we doing now? Oh, the dirty song? Ok. This is from the ‘Glass Houses’ album.”

The sound of someone dialling a telephone number was broadcast loud to the audience. This more upbeat song, with prominent keyboards from Dave Rosenthal, was welcome after the more middle of the road tracks. ‘Sometimes A Fantasy’ would feature a brilliant solo from guitarist Tommy Byrnes to close the track, injecting some much-needed rock and roll.

After thanking the audience, Billy Joel continued the vibe with ‘Only The Good Die Young’, another track from ‘The Stranger’ that bounced through the park. This time, the horns would be bolstered by the multi-talented Crystal Taliefero on saxophone. Her other roles in the band included percussion, backing vocals and rhythm guitar! Crystal would really make her mark during the next song though…

“Thank you! This is from, uh, the ‘River Of Dreams’ album…”

It was the title track, one of Billy Joel’s highest charting singles in the UK and from his final pop album in 1993. The backing vocals are an essential component of this song, performed by a large sect of the band. After a piano solo from Joel, the band changed tact, interrupting themselves.

‘London, England!’

Crystal Taliefero stepped up to address the crowd, coming around from behind her array of instruments to sing lead on a version of ‘River Deep - Mountain High’ in tribute to Tina Turner. It was a spectacularly charged moment that the crowd ran with immediately. After a pause, Billy Joel continued with ‘River Of Dreams’ as if nothing had happened.

‘On percussion, and vocals, and saxophone, and everything else on the stage, you name it – she can play it, that’s Crystal Taliefero!’

Where the former track had highlighted the vocal talents of one bandmember, so the next song would highlight the talents of another. Billy Joel began playing the piano part for ‘Nessun dorma’, an aria from Giacomo Puccini's opera ‘Turandot’ made famous by Luciano Pavarotti. The Italian-language vocal would be passionately performed by rhythm guitarist Mike DelGuidice to a crowd standing at attention, even singing along to its final moments and concluding with rapturous applause.

‘On vocals and guitar, it’s Mike DelGuidice!’

With that, Billy began playing the first notes of ‘Scenes From An Italian Restaurant’ to a big ‘woah!’ from the crowd. This was the last song to be performed from ‘The Stranger’ this evening. Billy Joel had been rubbing his eye frequently, there was a lot of wispy grass flying around with many audience members sneezing over the dry air that accompanied these BST gigs. By this point, Joel’s eye was red raw and weeping. It was clear to see on the screen as he wiped it with a towel, but at no point did he refer to it or show signs of it in his performance.

‘Scenes’ paled in comparison to the response ‘Piano Man’ would get. Putting his harmonica holder over his neck for the only time that evening, the crowd knew what would be coming next. Not a single line of this song went unsung by the Hyde Park audience. In a break, the beat held only by bass drum, the audience took the lead entirely. This would be the only song to be played from its parent album of the same name, it’ll also be the oldest of Joel’s songs performed that night.

‘Thank you London!’

The ensemble took their leave, we were now in encore territory, and what an encore it would be. The band and Billy Joel would return standing up. Strapping on an electric guitar, they performed Billy Joel’s 1989 hit ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’. The lyric itself is famous for capturing modern history up to that point in quick-fire verses, which were translated on the screen as a person swiping on their phone. The images were the figures he was talking about. Only recently, Fall Out Boy released an updated version of the song, covering events from 1989 to 2023.

Joe Jonas and Billy Joel. Image Credit: Dave Hogan / Hogan Media.

‘Gonna bring up a friend to sing this next song with me, please welcome, from the Jonas Brothers – Joe Jonas!’

Well this was certainly a surprise. A drum fill from Chuck Burgi and moments later, the whole audience were singing the melody to ‘Uptown Girl’. Having taken his guitar off, Billy Joel took the first verse, with Joe Jonas taking the later verses. The song was brilliantly reproduced live by Joel’s dynamic band, and was a moment that perfectly satisfied the crowd’s hunger for his UK #1 single. Jonas didn’t stay for the rest of the set, thanking the people of BST and heading backstage.

The band continued with another Joel classic – ‘It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me’. Joel amazed the crowd with his microphone stand twirling skills and Mark Rivera played a mean saxophone solo. Billy returned to the piano for ‘Big Shot’ and thanked the crowd after. A familiar chord blasted through the speakers before the band launched into ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ by The Beatles. The song has been performed by Billy Joel before, but performances in this century have been sparse! This was a lot of fun.

Smashing glass signalled the last song of the evening, ‘You May Be Right’, the fourth and final track from ‘Glass Houses’. Determined to feature a sprinkling of British rock’s biggest players, this song was coupled with ‘Rock and Roll’ by Led Zeppelin, brilliantly sung once more by Mike DelGuidice. This slid seamlessly in and out of the arrangement of ‘You May Be Right’, as if it was always meant to be a part of the song. The concert’s big finish was deafened by the applause from the 65,000 people in Hyde Park.

‘Thank you London!’

And a huge thank you from us to BST Hyde Park and The Outside Organisation for a fabulous experience at these three amazing shows. With this year’s BST line-up also featuring headliners Alfie Boe, Guns N’ Roses, Take That, BLACKPINK and Lana Del Rey, we can’t wait to see what next year’s line-up will bring!

Image Credit: Moths and Giraffes.

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