Preservation Hall Jazz Band Guests With Billy Joel at Jazz Fest
By Team JamBase Apr 28, 2013 • 10:00 am PDT
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Billy Joel returned to Jazz Fest in New Orleans yesterday, where he closed out the action at the Acura Stage with a career-spanning set. Unlike Joel’s 2008 performance at the much-beloved event, which was cut short due to rain, weather was not an issue on Saturday. Since it’s been 20 years since the Piano Man’s last rock album, there was no doubt attendees would get a “greatest hits” set and that’s just what Joel delivered.
Billy threw in a few city-specific bits in his set, such as working “The Battle of New Orleans” into “Big Man On Mulberry Street” and a snippet of “Iko-Iko” into “The River Of Dreams.” Yet the biggest tip of the hat towards the Crescent City occurred during “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant,” when members of New Orleans institution Preservation Hall Jazz Band came out after Joel sang the line “drop a dime in the box, play a song about New Orleans.”
Watch two fan-shot videos of Billy Joel and Pres Hall’s “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant.”
Check out the setlist from Billy Joel’s Jazz Fest set:
