Billy Joel, long dismissed as terribly uncool, is starting to gain respect among indie rockers.

The most autobiographical of singers, we shared his early triumphs, his "New York Frame of Mind," his seemingly endless string of hits, his various wives and affairs, his suicide attempt, his alcoholism and stints in rehab and his three arrests in two years for dangerous driving.

And, I suspect, the near capacity audience at his concert last night at Rexall Place, many of a certain age with spreading middle and greying of hair, have shared many of their own personal memories to the sound of a Billy Joel song.

His hits go all the way back to the early '70s and he's sold an astonishing 150 million records.

Last night when Joel invited us to sing along - no one needed a teleprompter.

Now 56, with a shaved head, craggy well-worn ex-boxers visage and his legendary pugnacious, no nonsense manner, he's everyman - as feisty and unpredictable as ever. "Only The Good Die Young," he sang to the wildly appreciative house.

Instead, his mother forced him into piano lessons and he ended up becoming one of the world's top-selling recording artists - we're talking 150 million records here.

While he may have begrudgingly taken to the ivories as a child, he has his mom to thank for his unbelievably successful career behind the grand piano.

The guy hasn't had a Billboard topper since 1993's "River of Dreams," and Joel has only released one song with lyrics in the last five years ("All My Life," penned for current wife, 26 year-old, Katie Lee).

But, Joel doesn't need a new #1, he dished out more punchy-pop hits in '70s and '80s than Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson combined.

Joel has so many mega-songs that pretty much everything he played at last night's sold-out show at the Saddledome was recognizable .

Unless you've been living under a rock, it's impossible to go through life without learning the lyrics to at least one or two Billy Joel tunes.

So when the "Piano Man" prompted the crowd to sing along, no-one needed to hum their way through.

The 56 year-old arrived on stage behind a black grand piano, wearing jeans and a suit jacket, a little tubbier, a little balder than when he was in his prime - but still has entertaining as ever.

He's got a dry sense of humor, with an on-stage intensity that keeps audience eyes glued to his every move. Will he freak out and knock the piano over because the lighting is not quite right? Would he yell at one of his roadies or band members on stage?

Joel is known for his cantankerous personality, but he's not above poking fun at himself.

Billy Joel's stats are impressive.

He's sold some 80 million records in the United States, which makes him the sixth bestselling artist in the country, right behind the Eagles and a notch above Pink Floyd.

That, however, won't stop him from hearing the question: "What have you done for us lately?"

The 58 year-old legend certainly hasn't been writing new pop songs. After dominating the airwaves in the '70s, '80s and early '90s with smash upon smash, Joel has been decidedly quiet in recent years. He hasn't released a new pop album since 1993's "River of Dreams," a disc that hit #1 on the Billboard charts, and has instead focused his attention on composing instrumental works.

He has remained active on the road, having toured for the better part of a decade on a co-bill with fellow piano man Elton John. In 2006, he finally ventured out on his first solo tour of the United States in years.

That outing proved so popular that Joel is staging a second trek, which hits the Oracle Arena in Oakland on Saturday.

Recently, Joel took the time to discuss the new tour and other subjects during a phone interview from his home on Long Island, NY.

Question: You've been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. Which one means the most to you?

Answer: Probably, the songwriter. I'm from Long Island, so that was a lay-down. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? You know, rock and roll - that's what I do. But songwriting is the hardest part of the job, so that's probably the one I appreciate the most.

Question: After touring with Elton John for so many years, why did you finally decide to mount your own solo trek?

Answer: We were touring with Elton for about 10 years.... I got to do his songs, he got to do my songs, we got do our songs together, he got to play with my band, I got to play with his band - there were whole different combinations of things.

But after 10 years, we were pretty much doing a stock greatest hits show. Elton was the opening act on the tour, he went on first. So, we'd be sitting backstage and Elton would be playing hit after hit after hit. We'd be sitting there saying, "Oh, my God, we have to follow this?" Well, if you try to go up there and do album tracks or obscurities, the crowd is going to go to the bathroom. So, we were doing greatest hits for 10 years, and that got a little old.

Question: What can fans expect from these set-lists?

Answer: You have to have a balance. The majority of the audience is there to hear the songs that it's familiar with, which are the hits. But, on the other hand, if that's all we played then we'd get bored.... So, when it was time to consider going on our own, we thought, "Well, this is a good opportunity for us to dig back into the archives and do album tracks and songs we like to do - songs that weren't hits."

Question: People obviously liked it. Last year's tour was a big hit.

Answer: A lot of people came. We didn't really know what kind of business we were going to do. We just figured we'd give it a shot, but the demand was there. That's why we are going out again, there seems to be a demand for us dinosaurs. We are kind of running the business these days, which is a sad statement on popular music, I guess.

Question: You recently released your first new pop single in more than a decade - "All My Life." How did it feel to get back in the singles game after all these years away?

Answer: I didn't intend to put that out as a single. I wrote it for my wife, as a gift, from me to her.

Columbia wanted to put it out as a single, and I said, "Well there's not even an album and this is never going to get airplay - it's like a Tony Bennett song."

Question: Still, could "All My Life" represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of a new batch of pop songs?

Answer: Nah. It was a one-off. It was meant to be a personal gift to my wife. Hey, look, if all of a sudden I decide to write a bunch of songs I'm not going to stop myself. But I have no plans to do that.

I don't want to say that my ability to write has dried up, because I've been writing all along - I write instrumental music these days. But I don't feel compelled to record it, to have it performed. It's for my own edification.

After 10 years on the road with Elton John, on a lucrative "two-fer" superstar tour that emphasized the hits, Billy Joel is back to being a pure "Piano Man," playing and singing what he wants, how he wants. At 58, he's an artist comfortable in his own skin, performing songs that mean something to him, backed by a versatile, top-notch, seven-piece band.

At his sold-out concert Thursday night at the Key Arena, he featured blue-collar, working-class anthems like "The Downeaster Alexa," about Nantucket Island fishermen, and "Allentown," a stark portrait of unemployed American steelworkers; lively excursions into exotic rhythms, like the horn-driven "Zanzibar" and the intense instrumental, "Root Beer Rag"; and rich, atmospheric ballads like "New York State of Mind" and "She's Always A Woman." He rocked with "The River of Dreams," "You May Be Right," "Keeping The Faith" and "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me."

He showed that is voice is better than ever by hitting the dramatic high notes in "An Innocent Man," as well as the many moods of the epic "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant," one of the encore songs.

His piano playing was powerful and precise, and more impressive than ever, especially in a bravura performance of "The Entertainer, " as well as the stomping "Big Shot" and the romping "Only The Good Die Young." And, of course, he had to close with his signature "Piano Man," although the most moving moment came when the audience sang a verse a cappella, which seemed to sum up what he means to them, and vice versa.

Joel played a big grand piano that was on a turntable, except when it disappeared below the stage when he sang standing at the mic, sometimes playing guitar. For "Piano Man," he strapped on a neck brace to also play harmonica.

As Joel has done in almost every show he's ever played here, going back to the old Fresh Aire tavern on Broadway in 1972 (he remarked about playing "on old Broadway" here a long time ago), he played a tribute to hometown hero Jimi Hendrix. He and the band didn't fool around with "Purple Haze," giving it an all-out, full-blown, guitar-driven treatment. They also had fun with another classic cover, AC/DC's "Highway To Hell," with a raw lead vocal by a hefty roadie identified only as "Chainsaw."

A keyboard-cam showed Joel's fast fingering close-up throughout the show, on several giant video screens that captured not only the stage action but also the happy, dancing crowd.

One of the most popular American singer/songwriters to emerge in latter half of the 1970s, pianist and vocalist Billy Joel found success with a mix of catchy, Beatlesque melodies, Tin Pan Alley influences and a storytelling style that owed a debt to both Bob Dylan and East Coast contemporary Bruce Springsteen. Joel got an early start in music as a Long Island youth, learning piano as a child and playing on recording session for producer George "Shadow" Morton - including the Shangri-Las' huge hit "The Leader of The Pack" - while still in his teens.

Joel would run through a number of bands and musical styles before trying the sensitive singer/songwriter approach in the early '70s. He would score some chart success with tunes like "Piano Man" and "New York State of Mind," but the pianist's big breakthrough came in 1977 with "The Stranger" and its string of hits: the Grammy-winning "Just the Way You Are," "She's Always a Woman," and "Only The Good Die Young." His huge follow-up album "52nd Street" would affirm Joel's status as a major artist, while subsequent releases "Glass Houses" and "An Innocent Man" would keep the singer at the top of the charts well into the 1980s.

Though he would face personal and professional setbacks over the decades since the height of his popularity - including his high-profile split with model wife Christie Brinkley, lawsuits with former managers, a stint in rehab for alcoholism and a string of car crashes - Joel has maintained his reputation as a gifted songwriter and powerhouse live performer.

Several generations of fans cheered, clapped, stomped their feet and sang along to Billy Joel's 2.5 hour rock party Thursday night at Key Arena.

There's no doubt about it. People still love the "Piano Man." And some of those cheering the loudest weren't even alive during his heyday in the late '70s and early '80s.

Seated at his piano, Joel rose from beneath the stage during the instrumental intro while the near-capacity crowd roared. Mostly bald and sporting a gray goatee, the New York singer and pianist wasted no time, launching immediately into a piano-pounding version of "Prelude/Angry Young Man," followed by a boisterous "My Life."

The large, circular stage included a catwalk at the rear, with a rope railing resembling that in a boxing ring. Throughout the show, Joel's piano rotated like the Space Needle restaurant so that he faced the front and sides of KeyArena and even the rear, where several hundred concertgoers watched from behind the stage.

Billy Joel has more than 30 Top 40 hit singles to his credit. None of those smashes, however, turned out to be the one that evoked the wildest response from the capacity crowd at the "Piano Man"'s concert on Saturday night in Oakland.

In fact, it wasn't a Joel tune at all and the star of the evening didn't even handle the vocals on it. He simply played rhythm guitar and turned the microphone over to his guitar tech Ricky "Chainsaw" LaPointe, who proceeded to belt out a Bon Scott-worthy version of AC/DC's "Highway To Hell." The result nearly brought the house down.

That says a lot about Mr. Joel. While some stars can't bear to lose the spotlight for a single moment, this 58 year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is perfectly comfortable letting his guitar tech basically steal the show.

That's because Joel's primary concern, it seems, is to show fans a good time. He's also interested in having fun himself. On this current tour - his second solo trek in two years, after spending the better part of a decade working the road with Elton John - Joel is accomplishing both of those feats.

At Oracle Arena, Joel delivered a wonderfully good 2-hour-plus show that balanced his fan-friendly hits with lesser-known tracks that he says helps to keep him motivated to perform. The mix was slanted heavily to the sing-along classics - tunes like "We Didn't Start The Fire," "An Innocent Man" and "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" - but there were enough relative obscurities to keep things interesting, both for the Billy Joel aficionado and, apparently, the star himself.

Wearing his usual attire of blue jeans and a sports coat over a simple T-shirt, Joel was in fine voice as he opened the show with two straight crowd-pleasers, "Prelude/Angry Young Man" and "My Life," and then headed back to his 1971 debut, "Cold Spring Harbor," for a nice take on "Everybody Loves You Now."

He was also in fine spirits and full of jokes - mostly ones told at his own expense.

"By the way, I'm Billy's dad," quipped the balding, round-faced entertainer, who barely resembles the kid pictured on his early albums. "Billy couldn't make it tonight."

While his looks have changed, Joel's uncanny ability to entertain a crowd hasn't budged an inch over the years. He proved that as he led his seven-piece band through killer versions of the hits "Allentown" and "The Entertainer" as well as the more-obscure album cuts "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" and "Zanzibar."

Working a circular stage placed at one end of the arena, without the usual security-patrolled barricade separating the star from the crowd, Joel went out of his way to make people believe that Oakland was an important stop on the tour schedule. He performed bits of several Bay Area-related tunes, including Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit," Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" and the golden oldie "San Francisco (Open Your Golden Gates)."

Nine songs into the set, Joel stopped trying to entertain himself (and us) with lesser-known tracks and set forth down the greatest-hits road. That translated to big renditions of "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," "An Innocent Man" and "The River of Dreams," which served to properly prep the crowd for the surprisingly great (cowbell-rockin') cover of "Highway To Hell."

From that highlight, which is surely what concert-goers are still talking about today, Joel proceeded to serve up a combination of hits that was even more powerful than what Muhammad Ali could dish out in his prime.

He closed the main set with the upbeat foursome of "We Didn't Start The Fire," "Big Shot, "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" and "You May Be Right," and then returned for an encore of "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant," "Only The Good Die Young," "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" and, of course, "Piano Man."

The audience - indeed, "a pretty good crowd for a Saturday" - sang along to "Piano Man" as if it was the single most important song in existence. The lyrics to the tune include a request, "Son, can you play me a memory?" Yet, in this case, Joel did more than just play a memory - he created a new one for these fans to cherish.

Billy Joel may be in a "New York State of Mind," but he had the heart of the Bay Area on Saturday at the Oracle Arena.

A venture capitalist wants a second viewing of a Billy Joel's Centre Island estate after seeing the posh compound on Saturday, said broker Shawn Elliott.

Billy Joel is an American music icon. The piano playing singer/songwriter has sold 150 million albums worldwide, has won numerous Grammys, has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

Joel's "Greatest Hits: Volume I & II" double album is the fifth best seller of all time. His songs are playlist staples of radio stations across the nation with such classics as "My Life," "Piano Man," "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me," "You May Be Right," "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" and "Only The Good Die Young."

With that kind of critical and commercial success, some may think Joel would want to keep the momentum going. But the laid-back, dry-witted Joel, who uses the same self-deprecating humor during interviews that he demonstrates onstage, told the Deseret Morning News that it's probably time for someone else to be the rock star.