Billy Joel and CBS shared a statement on Joel’s concert special unexpectedly ending early, much to the dismay of viewers.
Yesterday (April 14), CBS aired Billy Joel: The 100th — Live At Madison Square Garden… or rather, they aired most of the concert special.
As Consequence notes, CBS’ coverage of the 2024 Masters Tournament ended up running long, so the recording of the Joel concert started airing 30 minutes behind schedule. Late in the performance, as Joel was belting out his signature song “Piano Man,” the broadcast unexpectedly ended and cut to local news. As Awful Announcing notes, this affected viewers in the Eastern and Central time zones.
Viewers throughout the Eastern and Central Time Zones had the broadcast of the Billy Joel concert cut off, mid-Piano Man.
Evidently, CBS was no longer in the mood for a melody. pic.twitter.com/bVlcIReRXn
Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 15, 2024
As one X (formerly Twitter) user, a former CBS employee, noted, “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.
