Billy Joel
British Summer Time
Hyde Park
London, U.K.
July 7, 2023

Source: DPA 4060 => Tascam DR-2d
Conversion: WAV => Audio Cleaning Lab => FLAC (16-bit)

Location: Gold circle in line with left stack

Track listing:

CD1 (60:45):
(1) My Life (5:37)
(2) Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) (3:52)
(3) Banter (1:39)
(4) The Entertainer (3:53)
(5) Banter (1:42)
(6) Vienna (4:05)
(7) Zanzibar (5:38)
(8) Banter (0:29)
(9) Start Me Up (tease) (1:42)
(10) An Innocent Man (5:37)
(11) Banter (0:38)
(12) I Do (tease) (0:43)
(13) The Longest Time (4:43)
(14) Don't Ask Me Why (3:35)
(15) New York State of Mind (7:14)
(16) Allentown (3:46)
(17) Banter (2:03)
(18) She's Always a Woman (3:41)

CD2 (64:01):
(1) Sometimes A Fantasy (3:57)
(2) Only the Good Die Young (4:51)
(3) The River of Dreams (8:12)
(4) Nessun Dorma (2:57)
(5) Scenes From an Italian Restaurant (8:10)
(6) Piano Man (6:16)
(7) Encore break (2:26)
(8) We Didn't Start The Fire (5:11)
(9) Joe Jonas intro (0:23)
(10) Uptown Girl (3:26) *
(11) It's Still Rock and Roll to Me (3:50)
(12) Big Shot (4:55)
(13) A Hard Day's Night (2:36)
(14) You May Be Right (5:58)
(15) Outro (0:46)

* w/Joe Jonas

There are no fades applied to this recording; if you choose to burn to CD, the above splits are just a suggestion.

Comments: This recording captures Billy Joel during the annual multi-day "British Summer Time" festival in Hyde Park. Very spirited performance by Billy, with a great cross-section of material across his career (early on, he announced that the good news AND bad news was that there was no new material in the set); I think this is a more enjoyable performance than most of the shows he's been doing in his New York residencies over the last few years. Billy and the band were on fire.

In terms of sound quality, this one is lightning in a bottle. Despite the festival setting, the taper seems to have found a sweet spot with both an optimal line on the PA plus very little nearby crowd interference. This is a great listen even for those who aren't accustomed to bootlegs and managed their expectations accordingly. You hear some crowd between songs but nothing gets in the way of the music. Highly recommended for even casual fans of Billy Joel's catalog.

Check out the samples in the comments if in doubt.

Many thanks to TallTaper for taping and sharing. I was just the helper who EQ'd and tracked it.