One night, two piano men: Elton John and Billy Joel took over the Pepsi Center last night to make up for a postponed November concert. Photo by Mateo Leyba.
The forceful, unwieldy, three- hour show at the on Monday was heavy on the bombast. But the show made up for its lack of subtlety with enough FM-friendly radio hits — and saxophone solos — to fill, well, a three-hour arena concert.
The piano men played together and apart, making for a singular concert experience that was enough to please even casual fans.
One of the show’s most lasting impressions: John and Joel might be piano players, but their catalogs are epitomized by synthesizers. From the crazy keys on John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” to the intense synths on Joel’s “Angry Young Man,” this concert would have been impossible without the other keyed instrument on the stage.
The two started with a Joel-fronted “Your Song” and moved briskly onto a John-started “Just the Way You Are,” allowing each of the artists to tag the other’s work with individual, foreign flair.
And as they worked their way through a couple more collaborations, including “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” and “My Life,” it became clear that the success behind their Face 2 Face tour is no fluke. Their chemistry is real, and their voices — John’s bulbous baritone and Joel’s rugged gristle — actually complement each other.
John’s set was more artful than Joel’s crowd-pleasing romp. The Brit included his signature songs “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Crocodile Rock” and “Tiny Dancer.” John dedicated that last one to English singer-songwriter James Blunt, who was in the audience, he said.
The tent revival/gospel ending to “Levon” was stunning, and “Rocket Man” brought a horde of devoted fans to the stage’s edge to worship at their altar.
Joel’s set also read like a greatest-hits album: “Allentown,” “Don’t Ask Me Why,” “She’s Always a Woman” and “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” which lit up via a three-sax (soprano, alto and tenor) solo.
“This is what they used to call an album cut,” Joel said before laying into “Zanzibar,” which featured a couple of nice horn solos — on the trumpet and fluegelhorn.
Joel thanked the fans for tolerating the rescheduling process because Monday’s concert was supposed have happened in November. He also thanked the fans in the cheap seats, which he called “Fort Collins.” Joel later ditched the piano to sing lead on “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” extending the mike to a fan in the front row for the final melodic call.
And then John joined him for a rousing close that included towering pop standards such as “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues,” “Uptown Girl,” “Bennie and the Jets,” “Candle in the Wind” and “Piano Man.”
No, there were no surprises. But fans paid for fancy fingerwork and the big hits, and, that said, John and Joel more than delivered.
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Ricardo Baca is the founder and co-editor of and an award-winning critic and journalist at The Denver Post. He is also the executive director of the , Colorado’s premier indie music festival. Follow his whimsies at , his live music habit at and his iTunes addictions at .
