Determining which Piano Man I fancy is difficult when it comes to collecting Billy Joel posters. Normally when adding to a collection, I look at different eras of a musician's career. Sometimes, I focus on which hits come along. This time, a different approach should suffice Billy Joel's big venue shows versus smaller ones.
Billy Joel's stadium tours
Billy Joel has no shortage of stadium venue shows to choose from. Often times I mention looking at iconic venues, such as Madison Square Garden (pictured above). If, like me, you're a fan of said venues than you are in luck. Billy Joel's official online store has a handful to choose from, and they're all very affordable. This particular poster from 2014 is a mere $9.99. That's comparable to eBay but also seemingly authentic enough since it's coming directly from the artist's website.
As big as Madison Square Garden is, one of the last remaining baseball monuments is Fenway Park. Boston is one of just three MLB cities that still have their original ballpark (Wrigley Field in Chicago, Coors Field in Denver), so to me, that adds a nostalgic factor to it. The retro feel of the poster artwork in addition to its layout takes the viewer back in time. What's also from another era is yet again the price; apparently, all posters on Joel's site are $9.99.
Of course, there are plenty of images to check out from eBay, but it's refreshing to see a direct source to the musician. It makes the artwork feel like Joel might've had some input on the posters. Unlikely as that might be, it adds to its sentimental value. Speaking of sentimental, smaller venues also create those moments you don't encounter when at sold-out stadium tours.
Checking out smaller venue posters
Now to be fair, some of these venues won't be all that small. Most smaller city and town venues will seem small to Fenway and Madison Square in comparison. In order to find said venues, one has to go back to the earlier days. Let's start in the 1970s. The album Piano Man was released in 1973. His first big recording contract with Colombia Records also started in 1972. That's why this particular poster is one I'd select due to this point in Joel's career:
Berkeley community theater is a far cry from where the Boston Red Sox or New York Knicks play. Throw in the Sacramento Theater and you start having a handful of "small" shows. The black and white scale here subdues focus on much more than the info at hand, in my view. It's both timely and timeless, which is a nice touch to a poster.
Due to the slightly more intimate setting in smaller venues, it seems to add to the value of a poster. In this case, it's not a whole lot. This poster is $18.99 from Smart Artists Memorabilia.
Nevertheless, it's a very appealing image to Joel and Rock fans alike. Perhaps because of the large volume of Billy Joel posters available, this could explain why many are quite affordable. Signatures and limited runs are your best bet to finding posters that demand more coin. Let's just hope that when concerts return, Joel's shows will continue to add to what's available.
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