Billy Joel was thirteen songs into his set at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night when he decided to reach deep into his catalog and resurrect a song that only his most devoted fans would recognize. Were gonna try something weve never played before, he said. This may lay like a lox, but were gonna give it a shot. Nobody knows this song, not even us. So lets see if we can pull this off.
With that, he launched into House of Blue Light, which was the flip side to We Didnt Start The Fire in 1989. Hed never played the bluesy, horn-driven song in concert even a single time, but the band had clearly rehearsed it at soundcheck since they nailed all their cues with absolute precision. You can watch fan-shot video of the performance right here. That was interesting, Joel said when it wrapped, emphasizing the last word as if he wasnt quite sure the experiment had worked. He then kicked into My Life after promising the audience hed do one theyd know.
House of Blue Light is one of many Joel extreme deep cuts has dragged out throughout the course of his monthly residency at Madison Square Garden since it began five years ago. At other shows, hes also played A Minor Variation, Until The Night, Laura, Scandinavian Skies, Blonde Over Blue and This Is The Time. Much of the show, however, still focuses on the hits and hes played songs like You May Be Right, The River of Dreams, Piano Man and New York State of Mind at every single show.
Billy Joel has dates lined up at Madison Square Garden through July (including his 70th birthday show on May 9th) along with stadium gigs at baseball parks all over the country. He hasnt released an album of new pop songs since 1993s River of Dreams, but his popularity as a live act continues to grow with each passing year. Earlier this month, he announced a yearly stadium residency at Philadelphias Citizenss Bank Park.