Speaker 1: Melbourne. Welcome to them, Christian No Common Show podcast.
Speaker 2: So on Monday we announced the great news Billy Joel
Speaker 2: is returning to Australia for one night only right here
Speaker 2: in Melbourne, the only show he's doing in Australia this
Speaker 2: year at the MCG Saturday Night with Billy under the Lights.
Speaker 2: It's going to be incredible. December tenth in an always
Speaker 2: Live exclusive. Tickets go and sell in about a week
Speaker 2: and a half time. July the fourth more information at
Speaker 2: fronted Touring dot com and during the next twenty minutes
Speaker 2: we have Billy Joel on the show. So when I
Speaker 2: was chatting to Billy, we kicked off in America over
Speaker 2: the weekend. It'd just been Father's Day, so I started
Speaker 2: off by asking Billy how was Father's Day for him?
Speaker 1: Billy Joel, Well, they woke me up and then we
Speaker 1: went fishing. I live on the water, so we went
Speaker 1: out in Oyster Bay and went fishing.
Speaker 2: You've got three daughters, Billy, can you feel how it's
Speaker 2: shaped you over the years.
Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, It's one of my favorite things. And what
Speaker 1: I'm doing is no, I'm getting to relive when my
Speaker 1: oldest daughter was a baby all over again. It's so cute.
Speaker 1: You tend to forget over time how adorable they are
Speaker 1: when they're small, and that's what I'm having right now now.
Speaker 2: It's amazing news you come into Australia. Australia is very,
Speaker 2: very excited. Was this decision to come back to Australia
Speaker 2: got anything to do with your kids being into Bluey.
Speaker 1: Yes, it does. They're big Blue fans. We've been watching
Speaker 1: Blue for a while now and I keep telling them, Look,
Speaker 1: that's Australia, that's Australia. So I'm excited to bring them there.
Speaker 2: And so it's rare for you these days to leave America.
Speaker 2: This is a big deal. We're lucky to get you
Speaker 2: on the plane.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't like being on the road that much.
Speaker 1: I'm a homebody these days. I spend so much time
Speaker 1: on the road in my younger years that I don't
Speaker 1: like being away from home. I don't like being away
Speaker 1: from the family. I don't like being away from where
Speaker 1: I live, and I rarely go too many places anymore.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty much a homebody.
Speaker 2: Why do you still do any of it? You know?
Speaker 2: Why do you still do some gigs? Biddy? What does
Speaker 2: it mean into you still now.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a great job. It's the best job in
Speaker 1: the world. You get to play for people who really
Speaker 1: enjoy being with you. You know, you see people's faces
Speaker 1: light up, they sing along, they're having a great time.
Speaker 1: They all go yay at the end of your work,
Speaker 1: and then they give you basketfuls of money. It's a
Speaker 1: wonderful job. I'm a very lucky guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah. How many years ago I was lucky enough to
Speaker 2: interview Mick Jagger and I said the same thing to him, Like,
Speaker 2: because he goes to this grueling fitness regime, training for
Speaker 2: hours and hours, and you see him live, he's NonStop.
Speaker 2: I said, why do you still do it? And he said,
Speaker 2: this is my job. What else would I do? I'd
Speaker 2: get bored. This is what my joy is. I guess
Speaker 2: it must be the same thing for you. When you're
Speaker 2: up there and you're hearing people still enjoying your music,
Speaker 2: you're getting a kick that you got to have this life.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I've talked to other artists about it too. I
Speaker 1: talked to McCartney, I talked to Donn Henley. I've talked
Speaker 1: to Bob Dylan about what are you guys going to
Speaker 1: do now? Like, what are you going to do, and
Speaker 1: they said, we're going to keep doing what we do.
Speaker 1: You spend your whole life learning how to do it,
Speaker 1: and you get pretty damn good at it, and it's
Speaker 1: enjoyable to do. What else are you going to do?
Speaker 1: Sit around and watch the Telly. I mean it's fun.
Speaker 2: You know, over the last couple of years, you've had
Speaker 2: all these big movies, you know, these kind of rock
Speaker 2: star biopics. You know, you've had Elton John, You've had
Speaker 2: the Feeddi Murcury story. You ever been tender? Because yours
Speaker 2: is an amazing story, and so many of your songs
Speaker 2: are stories in them. You're a storyteller at the Piano
Speaker 2: you know. You must. People must have approached you the
Speaker 2: last couple of years about doing the Billy Joel Piano
Speaker 2: Man movie.
Speaker 1: That's been asked about a couple of times, and people
Speaker 1: have sent me scripts called the Piano Man. It's like, okay,
Speaker 1: that story has been told. You know, I'm not super glamorous.
Speaker 1: I'm not your typical rock and roll guy. I my
Speaker 1: home buddy. I tend to be kind of boring, but
Speaker 1: when we're on stage, we kick it. A bio pic
Speaker 1: of me. I don't know I don't even know if
Speaker 1: i'd go see it.
Speaker 2: I love the honesty, Billy. I love also the fact
Speaker 2: that you're a period in your life now where you
Speaker 2: just know what you like. Now you don't need to
Speaker 2: worry about pleasing everybody else.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is good about being this age. I'm now
Speaker 1: seventy three years old, and there's a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: I don't even care about anymore that I used to
Speaker 1: get all heated up about. And priorities change and things
Speaker 1: get a lot clearer and a lot easier, especially when
Speaker 1: you're this age.
Speaker 2: To tell me this, do you ever get nervous? So
Speaker 2: when you come over to the mcg and, I know
Speaker 2: you're used to playing stadium so many over the years,
Speaker 2: but do you ever still sometimes get nerves? What happens beforehand?
Speaker 1: Well, if we've been off for a long time, like
Speaker 1: during this COVID bit, there was a two year period
Speaker 1: where we couldn't work at all, And when I was
Speaker 1: going back to work, we were working on Madison Square Garden,
Speaker 1: I got butterflies. Are we going to be any good?
Speaker 1: Can I still sing? Blah blah blah? Yeah I was nervous.
Speaker 1: I was, but only after a long break. If we've
Speaker 1: been keeping going and playing on a regular basis. No,
Speaker 1: I don't get nervous, that's my job.
Speaker 2: And does it sometimes when you still have the nerves,
Speaker 2: does it remind you how exciting it is to go
Speaker 2: and play live, you know, in front of so many people,
Speaker 2: you're our night out.
Speaker 1: It's always exciting. I mean, look, I get asked all
Speaker 1: the time, what do you do? What's your regimen that
Speaker 1: you do to get psyched up for the show? And
Speaker 1: I say, who needs to get sacked up for the show?
Speaker 1: On stage? And there's twenty thousand people going wah. Then
Speaker 1: you get sacked up. They make a lot of noise
Speaker 1: and you know, girls are screaming, and it becomes a
Speaker 1: community and it's really exciting. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: It's the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
Speaker 2: You're right, And I think if there's one thing we
Speaker 2: learn out of all the money things we learned during
Speaker 2: COVID and lockdown, there's something special that happens in that
Speaker 2: live shared experience that's still really magical, isn't it.
Speaker 1: Belly Absolutely, it's a kind of sorcery. It's almost not
Speaker 1: being a musician, it's being a magician. Because they're getting
Speaker 1: hypnotized with what you're doing. And there's a line in
Speaker 1: piano Man that I get to towards the enders shows,
Speaker 1: and he knows that it's me. They've been coming to
Speaker 1: see to forget about life for a while, and the
Speaker 1: audience comes out with this sound like yeah, like you
Speaker 1: took them away from the bad news for a while,
Speaker 1: and that's a great feeling.
Speaker 2: And who does that for you? Who do you enjoy
Speaker 2: listening to? Who takes you away for a while? You know,
Speaker 2: when you're out there on your fishing boat and you
Speaker 2: stick on some music, who do you listen to?
Speaker 1: You know what? I listened to classical music nowadays. I
Speaker 1: don't know a lot of modern pop. I know Taylor Swift,
Speaker 1: I know Olivia Rodrigo, I know a couple of hits
Speaker 1: here and there, but I don't listen to it that often.
Speaker 1: My daughters do. They're the ones who get me to
Speaker 1: listen to the new pop. But I've usually listened to
Speaker 1: classical music and I find it to be thrilling.
Speaker 2: And is that what your mum originally wanted you to do?
Speaker 2: Does she want to steer you to sort of in
Speaker 2: a son who played classical music you know, rather than
Speaker 2: sort of you know, noisy rock and roll. Is that
Speaker 2: what mom wanted originally for you?
Speaker 1: No, she just wanted me to be a musician. She
Speaker 1: wanted me to enjoy music. She loved classical music, but
Speaker 1: she also loved Broadway. She liked the blues, so she
Speaker 1: was pretty open eyed about it. She loved the Beatles,
Speaker 1: and so did I. And you know, I was really
Speaker 1: lucky that my mom pushed me to do it. You
Speaker 1: had to learn some classical music to learn how to
Speaker 1: play the instrument, but that helped me a good deal
Speaker 1: as far as writing goes. So I love it all.
Speaker 1: I like all of it.
Speaker 2: I heard you your version of McCartney's Maybe. I'm amazed
Speaker 2: you do an amazing version of that? Is that one
Speaker 2: of your favorite McCartney songs.
Speaker 1: It's a fun song to sing. It's way up there.
Speaker 1: He's still singing his original keys. He's eighty years old.
Speaker 2: How's he doing?
Speaker 1: Don't must be the vegetarian day?
Speaker 2: It's all the tofu billy.
Speaker 1: Maybe so, but it's working for him. I mean, he
Speaker 1: can still hit those notes. I've had to drop a
Speaker 1: few keys here and there. I want from being a
Speaker 1: tenant of being a baritone, but I don't mind. It's natural.
Speaker 2: And how will you know, Billy, when you don't get
Speaker 2: that buzz anymore? How will you know when it's when
Speaker 2: it's time? Do you ever think about that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the audience is going to let me know.
Speaker 1: When you finish your show and.
Speaker 2: You get this, you're never going to get that.
Speaker 1: Then it's time to get off the bleeding stage.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's what you call the last shows you ever do?
Speaker 2: They get off the bleeding stage tour, that's what you
Speaker 2: call your very last shows you ever do?
Speaker 1: Billy Well, I have a whole plan for my farewell tour.
Speaker 1: It's it's going to be like this. You charge you
Speaker 1: know what you usually charge for tickets, and the stage
Speaker 1: setup looks like a living room and it's surrounded with
Speaker 1: bulletproof glass. I come out, ladies and gentlemen, Billy jeg.
Speaker 1: I have my little TV remote clicker with me, and
Speaker 1: I sit down and I have a sandwich and I
Speaker 1: watch TV for a while, and the audience starts to
Speaker 1: go boo boo boo, and they boo me, and then
Speaker 1: they throw stuff at the glass, but it's bulletproof so
Speaker 1: they can't get to me. And then about fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: into that, I pick up a microphone and say, hey,
Speaker 1: I just said I was going to be here. I
Speaker 1: didn't say I was going to do anything. And then
Speaker 1: you'll know that there's a bond between me and that audience.
Speaker 1: They will never pay another nickel to see me again.
Speaker 1: That's a fair belt.
Speaker 2: I get the feeling. This is what you're planning when
Speaker 2: you come to Australia in December. Is that the show?
Speaker 1: Now we'll do a show.
Speaker 2: Phew, that's good news. People are very very excited about
Speaker 2: you coming over. Billy. Well, listen, thank you very much
Speaker 2: for speaking to us. It's been a joy, and thank
Speaker 2: you for your amazing music over the years. Strangers was
Speaker 2: one of those you know, there are those certain albums
Speaker 2: and songs that remind you of your mum and dad.
Speaker 2: For me, it's that album my mum used to play
Speaker 2: over and over again, both sides on vinyl when I
Speaker 2: was a young kid. So you've been a big part
Speaker 2: of my life as a kid and growing up. Billy
Speaker 2: and I'll be there in December at the MCG when
Speaker 2: you when he come to Melbourne. So I'm looking forward
Speaker 2: to seeing the show.
Speaker 1: Great, we're looking forward to seeing you.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Billy, you're welcome. Paul A Brighter.
Speaker 1: Now you're listening to the Christian O Carl Show podcast