Apparently not everyone was in the mood for a melody on Sunday night. CBS executives, facing major backlash for the network's decision to cut away from Billy Joel's concert special celebrating his 100th show at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night — in the middle of Piano Man, his most famous song, no less — are focusing on the fact that the concert is now available in its entirety to stream on Paramount+.
CBS executives are most definitely the ones who started this fire, which left not just viewers but also local news anchors thoroughly confused when the concert cut to black during the sing-along anthem and CBS stations went to news coverage across much of the central and eastern time zone affiliates.
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
The media giant is now acknowledging fans' anger and telling them you may be right by pivoting focus to the presence of the concert in its entirety on Paramount+ for your viewing pleasure.
And before you say I may be crazy for thinking you'll pay to see the concert on Paramount+ after this, CBS wants you to know they love you just the way you are and is offering a free trial of the streamer, so all you need to watch the concert is an internet connection.
The show, officially titled Billy Joel: The 100th – Live at Madison Square Garden, was supposed to be a momentous occasion — his first concert broadcast live and free on a major television network in honor of the legendary singer's 100th show at Madison Square Garden.
Instead, it became an epic debacle for much of the country due apparently to CBS' extended coverage of The Masters golf tournament. As one local news man explained in an apology tweet, “the powers that be” failed to account for a special report after The Masters ran long, and this threw off the concert broadcast enough to interrupt Joel at the worst possible moment.
We Turned the Lights Back On too soon.
As 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.
(Not to get into the weeds, but there was a special… pic.twitter.com/LPJSFrq46O
— Evan Closky (@ECloskyWTSP) April 15, 2024
Unless you were sleeping with the television on, you were probably waiting for the longest time all night to hear Billy Joel perform Piano Man.
Fans understandably did not take kindly to the abrupt cutaway, which took them out of a New York state of mind. Many compared it to an infamous football game from 1968 between the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders. Known as “the Heidi game,” NBC head-scratchingly cut away from the epic grudge match to show the children's film Heidi instead, before the game's exciting conclusion.
The Billy Joel concert tonight is the new Heidi game (see image), but maybe worse somehow. #BillyJoel #CBS pic.twitter.com/CdDJJ6BcNm
— Tom Moore (@tom_moore_104) April 15, 2024
Now music and football fans have something to unite about, with the Billy Joel concert debacle hitting home in much the same way.
And at least the Billy Joel MSG concert is available to stream today for free on Paramount+. Viewers of the Heidi game back in 1968 weren't so lucky.
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