Billy Joel
9-17-2014
Madison Square Garden
New York, NY


Recorded by: Mr. Railing
Source: AT943cards>SP-SPSB-10>MM-AT-1>H2n(24/48)
Transfer: wavelab>r8b>cdwav>TLH(8)>flac
Location: Mics hand held all show.
track 1 to track 16 usual front row, 30ft under hanging stack.
track 17(Allentown @ 44 seconds) to track 37 on the rail 2 feet from speaker except track 30 which was recorded 5ft from center stage speaker



01 intro music The Natural
02 Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
03 Pressure
04 talking/Italian music snippet/talking/That's Amore snippet
05 Zanzibar
06 talking
07 Just the Way You Are (First since 2009)
08 talking
09 The Entertainer
10 talking/55th MSG show song snippet
11 The Stranger
12 New York State of Mind
13 Italian Jam
14 Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
15 talking/crowd deciding next song
16 The Downeaster Alexa
(rest of show recorded from the rail)
17 Allentown
18 My Life (with Colonel Bogey March intro)
19 She's Always a Woman
20 Don't Ask Me Why
21 introduction of Chainsaw
22 Highway to Hell*
23 We Didn't Start the Fire
24 The River of Dreams
25 A Hard Day's Night
26 The River of Dreams
27 talking
28 With a Little Help from My Friends**
29 Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
30 Piano Man (recorded 5ft from small more center stage speaker)
31 - encore break -
32 Hey Joe snippet
33 Uptown Girl >
34 It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
35 Big Shot
36 You May Be Right
37 Only the Good Die Young


* with Billy's roadie Chainsaw on vocals
** with Billy singing as Joe Cocker


Recording note:

I had technical issues the entire show. I could not troubleshoot due to my location. Dropout, Track 11 The Stranger, from :42-:54 seconds.

Show notes:

I started the show from what is usually front row, which tonight on the side was still 15 feet from the rail because they added three smaller curved rows as a pit to accommodate Billy's circular stage. I was told I could only move to the rail when everyone else moved forward during a certain song. That turned out to be Allentown. The vocals and sound becomes more prominent around 44 seconds when I positioned myself in the only place I could two feet from the speakers.

During Scenes From an Italian Restaurant some stage lights malfunctioned and the crew had to remove them during Piano Man. I was told to move to the second row of the pit while they worked and the sound suffers a bit as there was only a small center speaker. I moved back to my corner speaker spot for the encore.

There is minimal up close crowd for the first 16 tracks and virtually none for the rest of the show, except a bit during Piano Man due to the new location.

Billy makes reference to the 88th annual San Gennaro festival taking place on the streets of the historic neighborhood of Little Italy in lower Manhattan. In turn, he plays several Italian themed song snippets throughout the show.

** A Mr. Railing on the rail recording **