Last month Billy Joel thrilled Tampa Bay audiences by welcoming renowned rocker Sting for an unexpected guest appearance during his set at Raymond James Stadium. Together they performed a special duet together.
After years of romantic ballads and life snapshots, Joel made history in 1983 with An Innocent Man by unveiling socially aware songs for the first time.
1. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Sting made a nod to the song’s enduring popularity by pulling out his guitar to play a brief riff, before layering it with twinkly synthesizer beeps and bops, melodious synthesized peeps and chirps and melodic synthesizer peeps and chirps that recall Cat Stevens’ palette-widening and bedsit king persona.
Expecting Joel to reprise “Englishman in New York,” audiences were taken aback when instead, Reggae Fusion icon Shaggy joined Joel onstage for one verse of their spellbinding duet and also performed together a memorable rendition of “Brand New Day.” It proved an inspired decision from all involved!
2. Big Man On Mulberry Street
Sting, known for his iconic performances as frontman of The Police, thrilled a sold-out Ray James Stadium audience with dynamic renditions of their hit songs from the 1980s era, such as Roxanne, “Englishman In New York”, and “Walking On The Moon”.
Joel then invited singer Cher back for a duet performance of their 1986 song “Big Man on Mulberry Street,” featured in Moonlighting season three episode three. Both Grammy winners harmonized beautifully as they donned classic crooner outfits during this performance.
Joel’s “New York State of Mind” included flashes of clips of the Brooklyn Bridge while Sting donned his trademark Frank Sinatra hat for their jazzy rendition – all while keeping Tampa in an “New York state of mind”.
3. The Lion Sleeps Tonight
At Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, Sting and Joel took the stage together for a jazzy take on an old soul classic. Sting resembled Frank Sinatra with his hat and suit attire as he took over for the duet vocals while Joel provided piano accompaniment in the background.
“Uyimbube,” composed by Solomon Linda as a tribute to his wife in 1939, later found its way into Pete Seeger’s repertoire by 1951 and recorded with The Weavers; by 1961 it had become Lebo M’s no.1 hit, then featured as Timon & Pumbaa songs in Disney’s The Lion King franchise.
Starting their co-headlining tour this weekend, two rock icons didn’t miss the opportunity to work together onstage and capture it for posterity. Fans captured moments like these on video.
4. We Didn’t Start The Fire
Grammy-winning singers Celine Dion and Sting were seen performing Sting’s song at Tampa stop of their tour, and fans captured footage of them performing it together online.
Joel and Sting haven’t performed their duet in public in some time now; Sting’s most recent solo tour concluded last June at Madison Square Garden while Joel continues his residency there through July.
“We Didn’t Start the Fire” has long been considered one of the worst songs ever recorded, yet its original version continues to provide generations of children with valuable lessons about how the world has been constantly shifting over time. An updated version includes events such as Suez Canal crisis, Edsel failure, John Glenn space mission and Prince’s death among others.
5. The Entertainer
While Sting and Billy Joel had shared the stage before, their Tampa concert marked their first co-headlining concert. Sting opened his set with “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” while later inviting Billy Joel onstage for their collaboration, “Big Man on Mulberry Street.” Fan-filmed videos have gone viral of this duet performance on social media.
Joel provided the audience with a mix of classic hits and iconic covers, showing his enthusiasm for New York State with flashes of clips of Brooklyn Bridge during ‘Englishman in New York.’ Additionally, he played jazzy renditions of ‘Fields of Gold’ and an acoustic version of ‘New York State of Mind.’