Billy Joel - Live at Wembley Arena, London, UK - Jul 15, 1987 | SPEED-CORRECTED

Billy Joel Live at Wembley Arena London, England, UK July 15th, 1987 The Bridge Tour Audience Recording Sound Quality: B/B+ Setlist: Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin) - tape // 1. A Matter of Trust // 2. Pressure // 3. You're Only Human (Second Wind) // 4. Piano Man 0:26 5. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant 8:07 6. Allentown [cut] 15:31 7. Goodnight Saigon [cut] 18:28 8. Vienna [cut] 26:03 Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin) - live snippet [cut] 29:22 La Cucaracha - interlude 31:39 9. Don't Ask Me Why 32:27 10. Big Man on Mulberry Street 37:55 Band Introductions 43:22 Big Man on Mulberry Street (Reprise) 46:02 11. Baby Grand [cut] 46:57 12. An Innocent Man 52:58 13. Donna (Ritchie Valens) - a cappella sample 1:01:31 Come Go With Me (The Del-Vikings) - a cappella sample 1:02:31 14. The Longest Time 1:03:15 15. Only the Good Die Young 1:08:44 16. It's Still Rock and Roll to Me 1:12:21 17. Sometimes a Fantasy 1:16:13 18. You May Be Right 1:19:58 ~Encore~ 19. Woah-Oh 1:25:43 Twist and Shout (The Beatles) - vamp 1:27:01 20. Uptown Girl 1:27:15 21. Tell Her About It 1:30:17 ~Encore~ True (Spandau Ballet)? - interlude 1:36:08 22. Keeping the Faith 1:37:01 You Never Give Me Your Money (The Beatles) - interlude 1:43:04 23. She Loves You (The Beatles) 1:43:37 ~Encore~ 24. Big Shot 1:47:22 Billy Joel - lead vocals, piano, mute guitar (1), electric keyboard (3, 22), harmonica (4) Mark Rivera - saxophone, backing vocals, piano (1), metal pipe (6), claves (9), lyricon (10), synthesizers (12), percussion Kevin Dukes - lead guitar Russell Javors - rhythm guitar, backing vocals Dave LeBolt - synthesizers, piano (12) Doug Stegmeyer - bass guitar, electric upright bass (10b-11) Liberty DeVitto - drums, maracas (9) Peter Hewlett - backing vocals, co-lead vocals (12), percussion George Simms - backing vocals, percussion, triangle (12) The UK leg of the Bridge tour consisted of three nights in Birmingham and five shows in London, with this brilliant performance being the fourth night in London. Stepping into David Brown’s plate for the rest of the year is Kevin Dukes. Billy’s lighting director Steve Cohen had been acquainted with Dukes when both worked for Boz Scraggs and Don Henley's tours (kudos to Danny Fox for reaching out to Dukes for the information). So when a lead guitarist was needed within a week's notice, Dukes accepted without question. He's just as versatile as Brown, if not with more of a metal edge. This is exemplified with his electrifying solos in Big Man on Mulberry Street, Sometimes a Fantasy (which, dare I say, is superior to Brown's), and a frenzied Big Shot. Vienna, which was dropped earlier this year, is performed on the spot after an audience member shouts for it (at the expense of Angry Young Man). Billy even thinks out loud (after Don't Ask Me Why) about where he would've want to place it in the set - something only he would do at a big arena gig! Billy then plays a live snippet of Rhapsody in Blue (the opener of this tour) and uses it to throw a jab at DJ John Peel (who was awfully critical of Joel). This is the last known performance of Don't Ask Me Why until 1991. During the band introductions, Billy references the TV special they did here in 1984, as Torrey DeVitto (who was born on that night) has finally turned up to see her dad perform here. (In fact, all the band members were permitted to bring their families on this world tour.) Billy does a sultry take on Baby Grand that's as grounded as to the record version, while Liberty DeVitto still gives it the hard edge of the later tour versions. And tonight's version of The Longest Time is a rare instance of it being sung in D# instead of its usual live key of D. Being in England, Billy sings a bit of Twist and Shout during the Woah-Oh segment, and then the band once again strut out She Loves You (preceded by an interlude of You Never Give Me Your Money). This audience recording was missing the opening numbers. This version that I downloaded from Completely Retold had some further issues. Like the St. Paul recording that I uploaded, there was some corruption on a number of tracks, particularly on Allentown and Goodnight Saigon (the same area, oddly enough!) where certain parts kept getting repeated and a few bits were cut. I managed to cut off the repetitious parts, on top of correcting the sharp speed and balancing the channel volumes. But there's nothing I could do about the hard cuts. (Side note: I have found an uncorrupted copy of the St Paul tape, so stay tune for a reupload!) The picture was taken by Hanne Jordan from this show.