This past Saturday, Billy Joel made his way to Lambeau Field, the storied home of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers for his sole live date this month. Playing to a capacity crowd at the Wisconsin football stadium, “the Piano Man” delivered a set filled with hits from his decades-long career including “Movin’ Out,” “The Entertainer,” “The Longest Time,” “New York State of Mind,” “My Life,” “She’s Always A Woman To Me,” “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant,” and more.
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Joel also tackled a diverse serving of covers, including AC/DC‘s “Highway to Hell” and Giacomo Puccini‘s “Nessun Dorma,” and even worked in a Led Zeppelin “Rock and Roll” jam in the encore-closing “You May Be Right.” You can watch Joel pick up a Strat and lead the band through “Highway To Hell” on guitar while roadie Chainsaw handles vocals below, courtesy of YouTube user Shane LaRene:
However, the surprise highlight of the show was the band’s cover of The Beatles‘ classic “A Day In The Life” from their iconic album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. Joel had only played the song once before, at his regular Madison Square Garden show in May. At that show, Joel spoke about the personal significance the classic album had on him as a young musician: “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time. Fifty years ago, the Beatles put out an album in 1967, it was called Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I had just gotten out of high school, it was ‘the Summer of Love’… It was a remarkable album, they were my favorite band, and they inspired me to do what I do now and what I’ve done all my life… this is a tribute to those guys.” Thanks to YouTube user Shane LaRene, you can watch fan-shot footage of the Lambeau rendition below:
Billy Joel and his band will play three dates in July, including performances at Madison Square Garden in New York, Progressive Field in Cleveland, and Target Field in Minneapolis. Tickets for the NYC and Minneapolis shows are still available here. You can head to Billy Joel’s website for a full list of his upcoming tour dates this year.