Adelaide piano man plays top tribute to Billy Joel
FROM the moment Anthony Mara hammers out the frenetic opening notes of Billy Joel’s Angry Young Man, I get the feeling we’re in for one hell of a concert.
FROM the moment Anthony Mara hammers out the frenetic opening notes of Billy Joel’s Angry Young Man, I get the feeling we’re in for one hell of a concert.
His seven-piece backing band confirm this moments later, exploding out of the gates with a tightness that doesn’t give out for the whole show.
Then it’s straight into My Life, which has the grey heads of the audience nodding along in appreciation and the rocking A Matter of Trust from the album The Bridge, before taking it down a notch with the singalong Always A Woman.
Adelaide-based Mara has been touring his Billy Joel Tribute Show for a few years now, with this Entertainment Centre gig about the 30th leg of a national tour that’s seen him play to packed theatres and concert halls across the country’s metro and regional areas.
Don’t let the whole ‘tribute show’ thing fool you (I must admit, I had reservations) — there’s nothing amateur about this at all.
They’re a talented bunch of musicians, who, backed up by a sophisticated lighting set-up, put on a performance as polished as any touring act around.
Mara is not an impersonator. He’s not pretending to be the piano man, rather paying tribute to one of music’s most awarded artists and reflecting on his incredible 45-year career which still sees the legend selling out concert after concert at Madison Square Garden.
Mara’s drummer is exceptional, pounding the skins with the same intensity as Joel’s original drummer Liberty de Vitto, and his saxophonist is next level, faithfully recreating Mark Rivera’s iconic solos and providing some incredible backing vocals that help make this show such a quality performance.
The first act had a great set list — Vienna, Just The Way You Are, New York State of Mind, The Stranger and crowd favourites Tell Her About It and Uptown Girl among others.
But it was in the second act where the energy level really jumped up, with tracks like Miami 2017, We Didn’t Start The Fire and You May Be Right having the crowd dancing in their seats.
While a great performance, the second half was marred by some audio issues which saw some of the instruments getting lost in the mix, particularly during Big Shot and I Go To Extremes.
But that’s pretty much the only fault with it. It’s an awesome show, made more incredible by the fact that Mara is actually fighting multiple sclerosis.
You wouldn’t know, as he energetically struts around the stage, swinging his microphone stand in true Billy style.
“Singing Billy Joel songs is a pretty good form of medicine,” Mara tells us.
Part of the proceeds from the show go towards MS research, a cause Mara is understandably passionate about.
“Hopefully in our lifetime we can kick this thing in the arse.”
I hope so, because it would be great to be able to see Mara be able to take his show around the country for many years yet.
After leaving the stage, Mara returns to tell the tale of Brenda and Eddie in the legendary Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, before getting out his harmonica to cheers of eager anticipation.
“You know this one, do you?” he playfully asks the crowd, before launching into Piano Man and closing out the show with Only The Good Die Young.
It was a great show, and, given I was there with my dad as an early Father’s Day celebration, as I’m sure many others were, quite a special night.
I missed seeing Mara last time he brought this show to Adelaide.
If, nay, hopefully when, it returns, I won’t make the same mistake.
Billy Joel Tribute Concert
Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre
September 1