Billy Joel rung in the new year in style, joining forces with Jason Bonham for a rendition of Led Zeppelin‘s “Whole Lotta Love”.
Performing at Long Island’s UBS Arena on Tuesday (Dec. 31), Joel’s end-of-year spectacular was a special for one for numerous reasons. Not only was the night preceded by Jason Bonham’s Led Zepellin Evening as the opener, but the lengthy set saw the veteran musician roll out plenty of fan favorites for the night, along with a few rarer tracks from his extensive into his back catalog.
While the seldom-heard 1982’s “A Room of Our Own” got a look-in, rarer still was a performance of 1974’s “Souvenir”, which received only its 13th showing from across the past 40 years.
However, one of the most notable songs from the evening was one that wasn’t Joel’s own. Just over a third of the way through the set, Joel switched his focus to welcome Bonham and his band to the stage for a rendition of 1969’s “Whole Lotta Love”.
“We’re going to bring a guest onstage and do this next song,” Joel said to the crowd. “We have fun playing this, especially with this guy. Please welcome Jason Bonham. You all know this song. It’s not a piano song.”
With Bonham performing drums on the song his father helped make famous more than five decades ago, Joel’s longtime guitarist and vocalist Mike DelGuidice sang lead on the track, relagting Joel to the background somewhat.
Hearing Joel perform “Whole Lotta Love” isn’t a rarity (in fact, he also performed it at his previous New Year’s Eve celebration at the same venue), and it seamlessly fit in amongst the rest of the set, which also featured renditions of The Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up”, and Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla”, which was used to fill time ahead of the midnight countdown.
The show also wrapped up a big year for Joel, who not only concluded his record-breaking ten-year Madison Square Garden residency (earning $266.7 million from 1.9 million ticket sales to 104 shows), but also released “Turn the Lights Back On” – his first new lyrical single in nearly 20 years.
