The weather remained dry for Sting’s terrific opening set, but it began to rain shortly after Billy Joel’s performance began.
‘We’re from New York; this is nothing!’ he told the cheering audience of 42,000.
Billy Joel, the renowned pianist of pop music, has attained an exceptional, if not wholly wanted, status because of Saturday night’s abnormally rainy April weather at his sold-out show at Petco Park with Sting. He now stands alongside Tony Bennett, Miles Davis, and the Rolling Stones in that select group of great artists whose outdoor concerts in San Diego inspired them to keep going in their valiant attempt to rule in the rain.
Thankfully, there was no rain during Sting’s incredible 83-minute first set, which featured a fierce rendition of his funk-infused 1993 hit song, “Heavy Cloud No Rain.” Unfortunately, there is a couplet in the song that, on Saturday night at the downtown ballpark, proved to be all too accurate: The clouds refuse to part until their task is completed. You’ll hear me pray every morning / If only it would rain today.
Joel and his brassy, one-woman, seven-man band opened with “Movin’ Out,” and that’s when the clouds got to work at 9:10 p.m. Through his next seven songs—“Vienna,” “An Innocent Man,” “Don’t Ask Me Why,” a shortened version of the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up,” and the jazzy, finger-snapping “Big Man on Mulberry Street,” in which Joel traded vocal lines with an umbrella-twirling Sting—the light but steady rain persisted.
“Please bring a raincoat!” Joel joked as Sting strode onto the massive platform, encompassing a significant portion of Petco Park’s right and center fields.
Joel cautioned the crowd before “Start Me Up” to “not get too excited; I ain’t Mick Jagger.” In fact, Joel is six years younger than the incredibly athletic and age-defying Jagger, who is 74. (Incidentally, a year after Petco Park reopened, the Rolling Stones became the first rock band to play there.)
After “Start Me Up,” Joel and his well-rehearsed band jokingly launched into a few verses of the 1964 Riveras hit song “California Sun,” which the Ramones famously recorded in 1977. Even though Joel’s grand piano had some apparent raindrops, he remained unfazed.
He said, “We’re from New York—this is nothing!” to the appreciative audience. Joel’s stage outfit was completed with a wool scarf, a hat, and a black zip-up jacket. The pages in my notebook had grown so moist from the persistent precipitation that a few of the reporter’s pens ran out of ink.
Joel began his ninth song, “New York State of Mind,” his signature tune and one of the set’s highlights, when the rain temporarily stopped.
For the next thirteen songs of Joel’s concert, the atmosphere fluctuated between being damp and dry. Five certain encores, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “Uptown Girl,” “It’s Still Rock and’ Roll To Me,” “Big Shot,” and “You May Be Right,” marked the end of the show. The latter featured a tense rendition of Led Zeppelin’s 1971 hit song “Rock and Roll,” performed by Joel band guitarist Mike DelGuidice.
Five minutes before Petco Park’s curfew, at 10:55 p.m., the event came to a close. Joel was making his second appearance at the stadium after wowing a sold-out audience with a stunning 26-song show in 2016.
Joel’s grand piano then continued to revolve on stage, just as it had on Saturday, giving spectators on either side of the crowded stadium a greater view. The set list on Saturday was five songs fewer than it was in 2016. Joel’s singing voice was different as well; it no longer has the same force and range.
When he introduced “An Innocent Man,” the album’s title tune from 1983, he made such an acknowledgement. Joel remarked, “I was saying goodbye to a lot of my high notes when I recorded this.” “You can groan if I hit a lot of flat notes.”
He sang winning performances of “Vienna,” “Only the Good Die Young,” “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” and “Piano Man” with complete engagement and a warm, powerful voice. Furthermore, he seldom produced less than flawless piano work. On some songs, however, he sang them in lower tones than on the original recording, and he found himself straining to reach notes again.
Naturally, the rain and the crisp night air may have played a part in the performance of the seasoned troubadour, who will be highlighted on the CBS TB concert special “Billy Joel: The 100th—LLive at Madison Square Garden” today at nine.
However, whether performed indoors or outdoors, his energetic Petco Park presentation was hampered by erratic pacing. This was especially true when “The River of Dreams” transitioned into Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High,” a passable performance for vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Crystal Talifero. After that, guitarist DelGuidice sang the famous Puccini opera aria “Nessun dorma,” which means “Nobody’s Sleeping,” as the introduction to “Piano Man.”
What, say? It was evident that no one was sleeping on such a rainy and cold evening, even if this was an inside joke. And there was no denying the fervent crowd’s love for Joel and the songs that many of the guests had grown up hearing as they joined in and danced in unison.
Sting’s 16-song opening set, which included a passionate duet with Joel on “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic,” was a master class in how to organize, balance, and deliver a concert that soared from beginning to end (“Every Breath You Take,” which is probably the most memorable rock song ever about stalking). Pacing and vocal power were no problems for Sting.
Sting was in fine voice the whole Saturday. He had played here in October during his performance at SDSU with the same elan. Regardless of how many times he has performed “Message in a Bottle,” “So Lonely,” “Roxanne,” and “If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free,” he has managed to make each song feel very new and relevant.
Because of their longevity and adaptability, Sting was able to alter the keys, time signatures, and arrangements of his songs in a way that both honored and expanded upon them.
His flawless bass playing was also a work of musicianship, taste, and concision that gave the tunes much-needed depth. His extremely skilled five-piece band, consisting of just one lady, matched him note by note. Among them was Ben Butler, who filled in admirably for veteran Sting guitarist Dominic Miller, who is now on a solo European tour.
Favorites like “Message in a Bottle,” “Brand New Day,” “Fields of Gold,” and “King of Pain” all benefited from Sting’s constant infusion of energy, which welcomed new twists without sacrificing the core of each song.
Several of the songs, such as “Walking on the Moon,” which lasted 12 minutes but wasn’t a minute too long, were prolonged by him rather than being hurried through in order to create dynamic tension and release.
Experienced in large-scale performances, Sting controlled the stage with a charming blend of power, humor, and good-natured camaraderie. Joel captivated the audience with his energetic call-and-response vocal interactions, much more so than before. Additionally, Sting made a few shrewd aside remarks. “I can assure you it’s not a Madonna song,” he deadpanned, making a cheeky reference to her 1984 smash song “Material Girl” as he introduced The Police’s 1981 masterpiece, “Spirits in the Material World.”
Following the harmonica-driven hit “Brand New Day,” Sting made a weather-related remark, stating, “Man, it’s cold!” I’m from England, where the weather is pleasant and sunny right now. The next song is about how you can’t trust the weather anymore. After that, he and his band played a masterfully timed rendition of “Heavy Weather, No Rain,” during which he spontaneously added, “You’re in San Diego—my ship just came in!”
Like on “Desert Rose,” Sting cleverly let his music speak for itself. Its enigmatic, Arabic-inspired tune felt especially relevant at a time when, regrettably, violence is once more common throughout the Middle East.
Even at 72 years old, Sting can still hold an audience. The standard he set for Joel to meet on Saturday was ultimately too high, but that may be explained by the fact that Joel presently only does two shows a month on average, whereas Sting travels continuously. In any case, neither of them allowed the rain to stop their musical procession on Saturday.
