Billy Joel Performs ‘Miami 2017’ With Jon Batiste & Stay Human On ‘Colbert’

On Monday night, iconic performer Billy Joel made his debut on the CBS late night show The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The Piano Man sat for an interview, reeled off a list of his favorite Billy Joel songs and performed a fitting song with the show’s house band, Jon Batiste & Stay Human.

Host Stephen Colbert seemed particularly amped to have Billy Joel on his show. Colbert sang Joel a quick medley featuring the main lyric to dozens of Billy’s songs. The Piano Man then talked about how he adapts his concerts for stadiums, watched The Beatles make their U.S. debut in 1964 and performed with Paul McCartney at Shea Stadium. Watch how the start of the interview went down:

The second part of the interview started with Billy talking about why he hasn’t written any pop songs in a long time. Billy also recalled watching Jimi Hendrix play and showed off his impersonation of Tony Bennett. Colbert asked Joel to list his five favorite songs and Billy complied. Here’s what he came up with:

Billy Joel wrote and recorded “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” for his 1976 album, Turnstiles. Joel has described the “science fiction” song as a retiree’s look at the destruction of New York City after he moved down to Miami. Now, 31 years later, “Miami 2017” has extra meaning. The Piano Man was backed by Jon Batiste & Stay Human for a performance of the song on The Late Show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNIyuVgsfhc&t=0s