CBS Cuts Off Billy Joel Concert Mid-‘Piano Man’ Starting A Social Media Fire Among Fans

It wasn’t exactly “Sing us a song, you’re the pi…,” but CBS sure started a fire among Billy Joel fans who watched the singer’s concert special on the network Sunday night waiting for the Piano Man‘s signature song.

Billy Joel: The 100th – Live at Madison Square Garden special started a half-hour late Sunday evening due to the 2024 Masters Tournament coverage running overtime. When the network eventually cut off the concert at 11 pm across the eastern and central parts of the U.S. for local news, Joel was in the middle of his classic hit “Piano Man.”

In clips being shared on social media, the big disappointing moment came shortly before the song’s final “la la la de de das,” and went something like: “And the piano, it sounds like a carnival/And the microphone smells like a beer/And they sit at the…”

“You couldn’t produce a worse product than CBS just did on the Billy Joel special,” tweeted one outraged fan. “Way too many commercials, didn’t play some of his best songs, went extremely out of order in his set list, and then cuts away to the local news in the middle of Piano Man?!? A total flop by CBS.”

Wrote another, “@CBS You just might to re-schedule Billy Joel’s concert that your affiliates cut short to go to local late night news. We fans are not happy. And there are a lot of TV, etc viewing options other than you….You need to bring him back.”

And another: “Are you kidding me? I recorded it for 3 hours because I knew it was running late. They seriously cut to the news??? That’s terrible.”

Barstool Sports, which shared a clip of the truncated song, wrote, “How do you cut a Billy Joel Concert in the Middle of Piano Man?!”

The concert was taped March 28 at Madison Square Garden to mark the 100th show in his long-running (and final) residency at his hometown venue.

The concert special is available – in full – on Paramount+.

And in the unlikely case you can’t recall: “…bar and put bread in my jar/And say, “Man, what are you doin’ here?”