On November 7, 1976, Billy Joel played the Palestra at the University of Rochester, a Sunday-night campus show booked by the UR Concert Committee for $12,500, with $5,200 of it going to Joel and his band. About 2,000 fans paid $3.50 as students or $4.50 for the public, 500 short of a sellout, and heard “Angry Young Man,” “Piano Man” and “New York State of Mind.” Five days after the presidential election, Joel drew laughs with an impression of Jimmy Carter, then came back for four encores. The Campus Times review said he “played and sang with a fury and confidence few performers could match.” Fifty years later, it is a portrait of Billy Joel one album before The Stranger made him a star.
Keep Exploring