Billy Joel Announces UK Tour Dates

UK fans must feel like they’re dreaming after Billy Joel has announced UK tour dates.

For years, fan have hoped and prayed for Billy Joel to travel to Britain, though it always seemed unlikely given that he had claimed his touring days were over, not to mention he doesn’t cross the pond very often.

However, his no touring mantra didn’t last long as UK tour dates were announced last week, with the tickets having been on sale from May 31.

Recent news that Maroon 5 intend to play a summer concert, alongside UK fans already anticipating their UK performances, doesn’t quite have the same impact as knowing Billy Joel is touring again.

According to recent reports, Billy Joel promises to change up his live set to accommodate songs that are normally forgotten:

“I’d like to do more songs that weren’t hits. I got tired of doing the greatest hits set…If I was going to play again in places like New York, I would probably feature entire albums. It would give me a chance to do songs we haven’t played. . . We’d do one album and then play some obscurities.”

Although Manchester and London are no New York, fans could be getting a completely different experience to traditional Joel concerts.

Not that UK fans would mind if that happens: they’ve waited that long to see him in their home country that he could just whistle all night and they’d be satisfied.

The only thing that could put a downer on the UK tour dates is if some of the shows get cut, like what happened to the American Idol tour.

Despite Billy Joel’s modest opinion of any upcoming tours, it seems that his show will still tick all the right boxes and have many UK fans booking flights to America for another chance to see him:

“When I sing, I’m singing really high […] I’ve lowered the keys, but a lot of those things are really high. I need a few days to recover from every gig. But it would be silly to do just one gig every three months. You tie up the band and the crew…It would have to be more work than that…I don’t know if I’ll go an extended tour like Bruce Springsteen, hammering away for two years, though.”

Speaking for all UK fans, it is safe to say we are excited about Billy Joel touring the UK.

[Image via Wikimedia Commons]