Billy Joel Celebrates Birthday with Jimmy Fallon and Howard Stern
There's nothing like playing your hometown on your birthday to bring out the love. Last night (May 9), Billy Joel celebrated his 65th birthday by performing Madison Square Garden, with some help from two men who recently conducted high-profile interviews with him, Howard Stern and Jimmy Fallon
Jambase reports that Stern, a fellow Long Islander, introduced the man of the night, leading the capacity crowd in a rendition of 'Happy Birthday' (embedded above). He also told the crowd that Joel was donating his proceeds from the concert to the North Shore Animal League, a Long Island organization that has been rescuing and finding homes for pets since 1944.
Midway through the show, Fallon appeared on stage, and, along with his band, sang 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight,' reprising a bit that took place on 'The Tonight Show' in March. Then he brought out a barbershop quartet, in full costume, for Inner Circle's 'Sweat (A La La Long).'
Stern's wife Beth tweeted a backstage photo of the group, which also reveals that Sting, Paul Rudd and Judd Apatow were in attendence.
Perhaps intentionally, three of the first four numbers reflected the occasion, with Joel opening with 'My Life,' with a pair of self-referential songs -- 'The Entertainer' and 'The Ballad of Billy the Kid' -- coming shortly thereafter. Joel gave a rare performance of 'Scandanavian Skies,' the 1982 song that he recently disclosed, via Stern, was about a one-time only experiment with heroin.