The newly built Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, has only been open a couple of months and yet it has already had a number of newsworthy guest appearances.
The night the $2 billion state-of-the-art 20,000 seat venue opened, Bruno Mars invited his pal Lady Gaga to sing their #1 hit together.
Then a few days later Chappell Roan popped on the new stage with her former tourmate Olivia Rodrigo.
So how could Billy Joel outdo those special guests? He had two of them.
The first guest that joined the 75-year-old performer was John Mayer, fresh from playing about an hour north earlier in the month with Neil Young and Stephen Stills at the Harvest Moon benefit.
Together they played the mellow "This Is The Time." Mayer's tone was buttery. Goof on him all you want but he makes that Strat sing and turned what some might consider a forgettable song on the setlist into a special moment thanks to his solos.
After a few more tunes starting with "Don't Ask Me Why" and "Allentown," Mr. Axl W. Rose strutted out all dressed in black. No scarves, no hat, but sunglasses, naturally.
Billy tickled his keys and they broke into Paul McCartney's Wings hit "Live and Let Die," a song no one in the world has sung more than Axl.
Guns N' Roses has been playing it since 1991 when they had it on Use Your Illusion I and released it as a single. They've done it 816 times. Wings did it 85 times. Paul has done it 683 times including when he kicked off his Got Back 2024 Tour a few weeks ago.
Billy has a healthier relationship with the 1973 James Bond theme. He played it four times in '79, once in 2004, and twice now this year with Axl. The last time being at Billy's 150th show at Madison Square Garden.
The song also provided people to take in the new LED lights billionaire Steve Ballmer had installed throughout the arena that was primarily built to accommodate the Los Angeles Clippers, the billionaire's NBA team.
The former CEO of Microsoft has created one of the more technically enhanced and advanced modern music halls and sports arenas with the Intuit Dome.
Just imagine what all of those lights will be able to do once the right software is written for it.
A third special guest of the evening was Billy's 8 year-old daughter Della, who sang "My Life" with the crowd. If she looks more than comfortable, it's because she too sang with him in NYC this summer.
One song that seemed to be missing from the set was his latest single, "Turn The Lights Back On." The single was the first new tune he'd released in 17 years.
Of the 18 big shows he's done this year, he's played it just 10 times after live debuting it at the Grammys.
Has he fallen out of love with it? Will he ever play it again?
Billy and Sting have two headlining dates left on the calendar, later this month at the Alamodome and then in November in Vegas at the home of the NFL's Raiders.
Get your tickets on Billy's website.
