Some Billy Joel fans put pressure on CBS after it spoiled the broadcast of the singer's milestone at Madison Square Garden over the weekend.
CBS aired “The 100th: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden” on Sunday night. The special offered viewers a look inside the March 28 celebration concert, part of the singer-songwriter's historic residence at the New York City venue. In the 90-minute special, Joel, 74, performed his multi-platinum hits for thousands of attendees who swayed and swayed to his upbeat tunes.
However, for some viewers Sunday's broadcast ended a few minutes earlier than planned. Specifically, the broadcast abruptly went black when New York-born Joel sang the last verse of the night's final song: “Piano Man.”
In videos published in X (formerly Twitter), several viewers shared clips of Joel singing the lyrics “and the microphone smells like beer” before the broadcast transitions to CBS local news coverage.
“Daaaang @CBS, you didn't have to play pianist Billy Joel like that,” singer Sid Kingsley. he tweeted. “I was getting to the good part.”
“IDK whose decision was to cut the end of #BillyJoel's concert for the local news (AFTER starting 30 minutes late!) but it's unacceptable,” he wrote another fan. “#BillyJoel100 is an iconic moment in history, and all we wanted to do was 'forget about life for a while' and you destroyed it. @CBS @cbschicago.”
The transmission mishap inspired jokes and GIFs reactions shading CBS, and prompted some fans to share what other viewers missed. A user shared concert footage of Joel fans singing “Piano Man” a cappella, although it is unclear if the video was from the 100th Garden show.
In a statement shared with The Times on Monday, CBS said the controversial outage was due to a “scheduling error” and affected broadcasts in the Eastern and Central time zones.
“We apologize to Mr. Joel, his fans, our affiliate stations and our audience whose viewing experience was interrupted during the last song,” the statement said.
As a result of the disruption, as well as the “overwhelming demand for [Joel’s] legion of fans,” CBS said, will broadcast the singer’s historic concert “in its entirety” on Friday at 9 p.m. local time.
A representative for Joel had no additional comment.
Fans who want to relive the moment before Friday can do so by streaming “The 100th: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden” in its entirety on Paramount+.
The Grammy winner will end his decade-long residency at Madison Square Garden later this year, he announced last June.
“It's hard to believe we've been able to do this for 10 years,” Joel said during a news conference. “I didn't know how long it was going to last.”
And he added: “I am now 74 years old, I will be 75 next year. “It seems like a good number.”
Since 2014, Joel has performed at the Garden every month. It was a concert that was supposed to continue only until demand fell. But that never happened.
Joel's residency will end in July with his 150th performance at the sold-out venue.
“There are a lot of places out there, but only one Madison Square Garden,” he said in 2015, “my home away from home.”
