Billy Joel, MEN Arena, Manchester IT may be almost 15 years since Billy Joel basked in the glory of a top ten UK hit but the veteran rocker certainly knows how to get the crowd going.

He performed hit after hit in an exhilarating two- and-a-half hour performance which started with a grand appearance on a platform that rose from the depths of the stage.

At 57, Joel could be excused for taking things at a slightly more gentle pace, but he ripped through three decades of music with the exuberance of a man 40 years his junior.

Joel kicked off with a rendition of the old favourite Angry Young Man, and worked through string of anthems, including Just The Way You Are and Uptown Girl.

The performance was as one would expect from a star with more than 40 hits songs under his belt.

Joel had an affinity which meant thousands of fans packed into the MEN arena had been whipped into a frenzy by the end of the show. There was only one way things were going to finish.

The crowd knew it, Joel knew it, and so he leapt into a rendition of perhaps his most famous song, Piano Man.

He may have taken a step out of the limelight in recent years but nobody can accuse Bill Joel of being a has-been.