It had been six years since Billy Joel last played a concert at PNC Park when he showed up at Pittsburgh’s baseball palace Thursday night. But Joel hadn’t forgotten what his fans wanted from him and did he ever give it to them. "Good evening Pittsburgh. Long time no see,” said Joel after opening the show with familiar tunes "My Life” and "Pressure.” "I don’t have anything new. We’re gonna do the same old s___,” he told the crowd of about 40,000. They laughed and cheered, because, like a meatloaf dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy, Billy Joel’s brand of musical comfort food is exactly what the crowd was seeking. They wanted to hear his hits - and aside from the odd deep album cut and a couple of covers - that’s exactly what they got. Considering Joel’s last album of new songs was 1993’s "River of Dreams,” odds of surprises were slim. If he’s been working on any new material, he kept it to himself. Joel, dressed in a charcoal suit with a black dress shirt and white spotted tie, wasted little time getting to one of the bigger crowd pleasers in his canon, "Just the Way You Are.” His first top 10 hit was the fourth song of the evening. Aware that many in the audience knew he had written the song for his first wife Elizabeth Weber, Joel followed the end of the tune with "… and then we got divorced.” A good storyteller, Joel told plenty of behind-the-scenes tales about different songs as he made his way through the set list - and all were interesting. They included a story about how he had originally decided against making "Just the Way You Are” part of the album "The Stranger,” until Linda Ronstadt told him that he had to include it. Joel gave a special shout-out to Ronstadt for convincing him to make that fortuitous decision decades ago. Throughout the evening, Joel’s piano playing was something to behold. He made it look so effortless on so many demanding, keyboard-heavy tunes. When he stepped away from the piano to sing songs on a standup microphone, he looked uncomfortable. "What do I do with my hands?” he asked at one point. Once he was back behind his piano, he felt at home. "I ain’t no Mick Jagger,” Joel said. The piano he sat at was on a rotating platform so that he was sometimes facing stage right, stage left or looking straight ahead. Joel also had a fly swatter at the ready as he battled the moths that occasionally dive-bombed the stage. Even at 73, Joel’s voice was up to the task of belting out a wide range of songs. He sounded strong on everything, but was especially impressive on songs like "An Innocent Man,” where he hit an especially high note on the refrain, "I aaaaaaaaaam an innocent man.” "I am always worried about hitting that note,” he confided to the audience after the song. But between his own talent and that of his eight-piece backing band, he really didn’t have much to worry about. Saxophone player Mark Rivera added soulful solos on songs like "Only the Good Die Young” and "New York State of Mind,” which climaxed with a kind of piano-saxophone call and response between Joel and Rivera. Everyone in the band had their moment to shine, including singer, sax player and percussionist Chrystal Taliefero, who provided impeccable backup vocals and had a chance to take the lead on a cover version of "Dancing in the Street.” There was also trumpet player Carl Fischer, who came through with a brilliant solo on the jazzy tune "Zanzibar” from the "52nd Street” album, another of those album cuts the crowd might not have expected but ate up anyway, in addition to "Vienna” and "The Ballad of Billy the Kid.” Other band members included multi-instrumentalist Tommy Byrnes, keyboard player David Rosenthal, bass player Andy Cichon, multi-instrumentalist Mike DelGuidice, who sang a lush Puccini operatic intro to "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” and drummer Chuck Burgi, who won over the crowd by wearing a number 22 Pirates jersey. Before Joel got to his pre-encore finale "Piano Man,” he mentioned that he’s been playing concerts in the City of Pittsburgh since the 1970s. "I’ve played a lot of places in Pittsburgh, around Pittsburgh and I want to take this opportunity to thank you for coming to see us.” The crowd sang along with most of the songs, but overwhelmingly got into "Piano Man.” The patrons were so loud that Joel backed off and let them sing all of the final refrain. Joel brought out a blue and white guitar for the encore, which he played during "We Didn’t Start the Fire.” That was followed by "Uptown Girl,” "It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” "Big Shot” and "You May Be Right.” A couple of fans exiting the ballpark could be overheard expressing their disappointment that Joel neglected to play both "The Stranger” and "Captain Jack.” But those were the only complaints about a concert that came off as perfectly as the evening’s weather. The concert, which had no warm-up band and was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m., got underway at about 8:27 and finished at 10:47. Setlist Billy Joel at PNC Park August 11, 2022 1. "My Life” 2. "Pressure” 3. "The Entertainer” 4. "Just the Way You Are” 5. "Zanzibar” 6. "An Innocent Man” 7. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight” 8. "The Longest Time” 9. "Don’t Ask Me Why” 10. "New York State of Mind” 11. "Allentown” 12. "Vienna” 13. "Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” 14. "She’s Always a Woman” 15. "The Ballad of Billy the Kid” 16. "Only the Good Die Young” 17. "Sometimes a Fantasy” 18. "The River of Dreams” 19. "Nessun dorma” (Giacomo Puccini cover sung by Mike DelGuidice) 20. "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” 21. "Piano Man” Encore 22. "We Didn’t Start the Fire” 23. "Uptown Girl” 24. "It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” 25. "Big Shot” 26. "You May Be Right” Paul Guggenheimer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at pguggenheimer@triblive.com. and help us continue covering the stories that matter to you and your community.