Outrage as CBS cuts Billy Joel performance during 'Piano Man' | indy100

Billy Joel will perform at the Grammys

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For those that couldn't get tickets or go themselves, loads of Billy Joel fans had been waiting patiently to watch coverage of his historic 100th Madison Square Garden concert on TV.

Coverage of it is understood to have been heavily advertised through the CBS network to create a lot of hype for it.

It didn't get off to the best of starts as the broadcast was delayed on the network because of coverage of The Masters.

And its ending was even worse as those watching on channels across the network in eastern and central time zones got a shock when it cut to the news - right in the middle of Billy performing one of his most iconic songs 'Piano Man'.

Viewers throughout the Eastern and Central Time Zones had the broadcast of the Billy Joel concert cut off, mid-Piano Man. \n\nEvidently, CBS was no longer in the mood for a melody.
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March 28th was the 100th time Billy had performed at the iconic New York City venue, with the now 74-year-old's very first appearance there coming back in December 1978, 46 years ago.

In the run-up to it being broadcast on April 14, CBS is reported to have been billing it as 'the greatest arena run of all time' for months.

But 'Piano Man' was cut right in the middle of a chorus, no doubt when loads of fans would have been singing along at home, to a news report on a number of CBS channels.

It did not go down well online with a number of fans taking to X / Twitter to vent their anger.

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CBS has been promoting the Billy Joel concert special every two minutes for WEEKS. So what better way to air it than to preempt it for a half hour and the cut him off MID-PIANO MAN? C'mon guys.
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@awfulannouncing They delayed the concert for golf, then chopped it off for local news. Makes no sense.
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@awfulannouncing That\u2019s the worst ending since Heidi
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@awfulannouncing It\u2019s like the sopranos finale all over again
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Apologies and explanations were given by presenters and directors on the network as to what happened and why.

We Turned the Lights Back On too soon.\n\nAs a man who grew up right next to Billy Joel's hometown, who went to The Last Play at Shea, it was my duty to apologize to everyone about cutting off our telecast of Billy Joel tonight. \n\n(Not to get into the weeds, but there was a special\u2026
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I apologize to the people who were enjoying Billy Joel singing on TV then all of a sudden had to see my face. I\u2019d have picked Billy Joel over me, too. I\u2019m not even the Rex Smith who is the famous singer/actor \u2639\ufe0f
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Others were not affected though and managed to see the concert in its entirety.

@awfulannouncing Not on WTHI in Terre Haute/Western Indiana. Went all the way through the credits. Ended about 11:34 pm.
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@awfulannouncing must've been the local station. @KMOV here didn't cut him off, they knew better!
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