On Saturday night, myself and about 20,000 other people saw Billy Joel in concert at Madison Square Garden. He not only tied a record for the most shows booked by a single artist at the world’s most famous arena since its creation that night – but he also brought all of us to our feet – and kept us there throughout his entire two-and-a-half hour performance.

From Angry Young Man, his opening song, to his amazing closing performance of Piano Man – his audience was in the palm of his hand – and he handled us perfectly.

Continuing his My Lives tour – which corresponds with a recently released box set of the same name – Billy booked 12 shows at MSG – breaking the arena’s record for the most consecutive concerts by a single artist. When I saw him Saturday night – he opened the night and tied the record by saying, “Good evening New York City. Welcome to MSG ten.”

I have seen Billy Joel in concert at least a dozen times. I was at Yankee Stadium in 1990, and in Madison Square Garden on “Y2K” – celebrating the New Year with my favorite artist – and I can tell you that he was as good as a performer on Saturday night as he was over a decade-and-a-half-ago.

From his usual songs, like, Big Shot and It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me – to his unexpected renditions of Zanzibar and Everybody Loves You Know – he proved one thing…

…that Billy Joel still, “has it.”

No matter his age, he performs as good as he did when I saw him in 1990. Very few artists can claim that honor. People like Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and Edgar Winter are members of that elite club and Billy Joel certainly is too. He delivered at least 20 different songs from all stages of his career and sang each one as if he was debuting them at a record release party. Though older than he was when he recorded these masterpieces – he sung them as if it was the day he recorded them.

I went alone to this concert, thanks to Scott, a friend of my reporter Andrew Coen who sold me the ticket – and thanks to Andrew for being lucky enough to sit next to him at the concert he went to on January 23. But despite the fact that I had no one join me – I had a blast. For three hours, I stood on my feet no more than 50 rows from the stage and watched Billy put on one Hell of a show. His musical gift, combined with his natural ability to entertain a live audience – makes his live performances uniquely unforgettable – and certainly worth attending – because they are never the same from one performance to another – they’re better.

At about the time Intermission would be during a concert – something Billy did not take – a roadie of Billy’s named Chainsaw came on stage to sing ACDC’s Highway To Hell while Billy and his band played. At first, the crowd looked shocked and surprised that this would occur. But as soon as Chainsaw got going – he rocked the house. This man, who does not have a music career and will never be selling out arenas as a musician – brought a sold-out Madison Square Garden to its feet. How many people can say that?

When the first of the three encores began, the crowd got louder – and used their cell phone screen displays the way the “old folks” used lighters “back in the day.” After a few minutes of cheering – Billy would come out. During the encores, he played Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, You May Be Right – and, of course – Piano Man, which was the traditional and perfect close to a Billy Joel performance. When the show was over, I was very glad that I chose to go. It has been six years since I have seen him live and five years since I saw a concert in the Garden – and what better way to see one again than to see “The Piano Man?”

Billy has two more dates to round out his record-breaking Garden tour, April 19th and April 24th. If you have never seen him in concert, or in a long while – go. Buy the tickets from a scalper if you have to – but give yourself the chance to see a true artist perform live…

…and take me with you.