Before it undergoes renovations, Target Center will welcome back the piano man who helped break in the arena when it opened in 1990.
Target Center announces its mystery guest: Billy Joel
The piano man played the arena soon after it opened in 1990 and is playing there again ahead of renovations, even though he has sworn off touring.
December 11, 2014 at 9:49PM
Billy Joel will return to downtown Minneapolis for a May 16 concert, the arena announced Thursday with an unusual morning news conference that prompted rumors of much bigger names performing there.
Joel, 65, has a long history with Target Center going back to when he played four sold-out shows there right after it opened in November 1990. This will be his 10th performance there total. He is second only to Garth Brooks as Target Center's top draw, with more than 171,000 tickets sold.
Tickets are priced from $53 to $128 and go on sale to the general public beginning at 10 a.m. Dec. 19 at Target Center's box office, online at AXS.com and by phone at 1-888-9-AXS-TIX. American Express cardholders can buy tickets before the general public beginning Monday at 10 a.m. through Dec. 18 at 10 p.m.
The arena had teased music fans Wednesday with a tweeted photo showing New York's Times Square and a sign reading "Happy 1999!" That triggered a guessing game: Would it be Prince — possibly on New Year's Eve?
Instead, it was Joel, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and also played a sold-out Target Center show that year.
Joel's last swing through the Twin Cities was a 2009 tour with Elton John — who was also his touring partner the last time he played Target Center, a pair of sold-out concerts in 2001.
Known for the 1970s-80s hits "Piano Man," "My Life" and "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me," Joel has not cracked Billboard's top 20 since "The River of Dreams" in 1993. In recent years, he has sworn off conventional touring. Instead, he has taken up a monthly residency gig at Madison Square Garden in his native New York City, now extended to 16 shows through March. He has also booked one-off arena concerts here and there, including a pair this month in Florida.
He will perform this time before construction starts on the venue's $100 million face lift. Plans call for construction to begin sometime next year and end by the fall of 2016, with the Minnesota Lynx and the Wolves playing their next seasons amid renovations.
Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658
