Billy Joel fans remember his 1st Phoenix concerts: 'He was ready to headline'

Billy Joel is about to co-headline a show with Stevie Nicks at Chase Field, where he played to more than 50,000 fans in 2019.

That's a lot more people than he faced at his earliest shows in Arizona.

Joel was touring in support of “Turnstiles” when he played his first headlining date in Phoenix, taking the rotating stage of the sold-out Celebrity Theatre by storm.

It was Aug. 1, 1976, a little more than two months after "Turnstiles," his fourth album, hit the streets.

The rising star had made one previous appearance on a Valley stage — as an opening act for Linda Ronstadt at the 2,650-capacity Celebrity on Dec. 18, 1974.

Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks in Phoenix: Everything to know about the concert at Chase Field

Billy Joel's earliest Phoenix concerts were presented by KDKB

Both concerts were presented by KDKB-FM, a free-form progressive-rock station known for breaking acts.

“The whole idea was to get new artists into the Celebrity and start them as openers, then bring them back as headliners,” says Linda Thompson Smith (then known as Linda Thompson), a popular DJ and music director at the station, which was based in Mesa.

“We were pretty much a breakout market for him from day one.”

Hardy Price, the entertainment writer at The Arizona Republic, did not catch the Ronstadt show but later wrote, “Miss Ronstadt’s recent concert at Celebrity Theatre showcased the talents of ‘Piano Man’ Billy Joel. From all reports, Joel was a winner.”

KDKB's Linda Thompson: 'I don't think he ever doubted himself'

Thompson Smith was struck at that first concert by the confidence Joel he brought to the occasion.

“He was really sure of what he was doing,” she says.

“I don’t think he doubted himself. Ever. It was like, ‘This is gonna happen for me.’ And he was such a great performer and a super entertainer from the get-go. It wasn’t like he really had to hone his skills much. He was there with it. He had it.”

By the time he returned as a headliner, Joel was not only in heavy rotation on KDKB, he’d become one of the station’s core artists with only two Top 40s singles to his name — “Piano Man” and “The Entertainer.”

“The hits weren’t totally there yet,” Thompson Smith says.

But the DJs at KDKB were “all over” the new album, “Turnstiles.”

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Billy Joel at the Celebrity Theatre was a 'really easy sellout' in 1976

Bill Compton, the program director at KDKB, even had him on the air to talk about the album and the show.

“Bill loved him,” Thompson Smith says. “So that kind of guaranteed him some pretty good airplay.”

It was fun having Joel at the station.

“He was cool,” Thompson Smith says. “He was real New York, kind of a wiseass New York attitude.”

Thompson Smith recalls that concert as “a really easy sellout,” saying there were “tons more people interested in him because we had played him and had many, many requests for him.”

Joel was “even more polished” in ’76, she says. “Plus he had a bunch of new songs. And he was on his way. I mean, it seemed like it from the very beginning but certainly by then, he was ready to headline, no problem.”

Joel stood on a railing to watch the cars pull up to the Celebrity

Lee Powell was a DJ who also did public affairs and news on KDKB at the time.

He remembers Joel being thrilled with the line of cars pulling into the parking lot before the show while hanging out with Powell and Lissa Wales, a photographer.

“We were standing out front at the railing before you go downstairs to get the tickets,” Powell says.

“As you know, he's kind of a little guy. I remember, it's etched in my mind like it was yesterday. He climbed up on the first bar of the railing to look out to see the cars coming into the lot. He was absolutely amazed at the amount of people coming in to see him.”

Joel told The Arizona Republic, 'I ain't no star, that's for sure'

Joel spoke to The Republic for a preview of that concert.

“I’m kind of a square peg they keep trying to fit into a round hole,” he said. “I’m a musician and I write songs. When I’m at home, I write songs and when I’m on the road, I perform. I ain’t no star, that’s for sure.”

He also talked about the importance of not repeating himself as an artist.

“I didn’t want to put out a ‘Piano Man 2’ or ‘Piano Man 3,’” he said. “When you start imitating yourself, you’re dead artistically.”

Billy Joel hailed as 'one of the most talented musicians today'

There are no reviews online of that first headlining concert in Phoenix and no setlists we could find.

According to selist.fm, the songs that Joel performed most that year were “Piano Man,” “Captain Jack,” “New York State of Mind,” “Prelude/Angry Young Man,” “The Entertainer,” “The Ballad of Billy the Kid” and “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Down on Broadway).”

A review in the Courier-Post newspaper in New Jersey of a two-hour concert he gave at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia a few weeks earlier may shed some additional light on what the fans in Phoenix saw that night.

“His lack of superstar status certainly isn’t from a shortage of talent,” John Crosbie wrote. “By any standard, he is one of the most talented musicians today. The blazing Scott Joplin-style instrumental ‘Root Beer Rag’ left no doubt of his technical skill on piano.”

The writer also praised Joel's five-piece backing band, especially Liberty DeVitto, who “deserves special mention for his fine work on drums all evening,” and singled out the singer’s sense of showmanship.

“What makes Joel an even better artist is his dialogue with the audience,” he wrote. “Perhaps he does seem to talk more than most performers, but it’s the jokes and stories that makes the audience feel it is with a friend.”

Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks

Details: 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8.

Where: Chase Field, 401 E. Jefferson, Phoenix.

Admission: Resale ticket prices vary.

Details: 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Billy Joel's first concerts in Phoenix: 'He was real New York'