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- Artist: Billy Joel
- Rating:
- Release Date: May 02, 2000
- Total Time: 128:39
- Type: Live
- Genre: Rock
Review
Among the major artists celebrating the end of the 20th century with a New Year's Eve blowout was Billy Joel, who set up shop at Madison Square Garden and played a marathon show lasting nearly three hours. It was quite a feat for a man who claimed that he had retired from pop music, but the last New Year's Eve gig of the 20th century offers an artist a chance to sum up either the past century or their career. Joel decided to do both, throwing in a few classic rock covers at the end of a show that offered a whirlwind spin through his lengthy back catalog. Several songs from the concert are absent on 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert, the audio record of the event, but that's because it's impossible to squeeze three hours onto two discs. That means such staples as "Piano Man" are absent, but they're not particularly missed, since such early classics as "Summer Highland Falls," "The Ballad of Billy the Kid," and "I've Loved These Days" take their place. These moments are what make the record worthwhile for serious Joel fans, since that's where he sounds relaxed and emotionally vested. The rest of the album is pure spectacle, as it builds to a midnight crescendo of "Auld Lang Syne," which gives way to oldies covers and hits. There are certain lapses in pacing that slow the momentum, and Joel's voice does stretch mighty thin at some points. These are the sort of things that are easy to ignore in concert, when the experience is all-important, but on record, it does diminish the overall effect, even for hardcore Joel fans. It's often enjoyable, but the end result is a bit underwhelming, which means that 2000 Years is more like a souvenir of a passed moment than it was intended to be. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music GuideTracks
CD 1
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Beethoven's Ninth Symphony | Billy Joel | (1:43) | |
| Big Shot | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (4:55) |
| Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (5:23) |
| Summer, Highland Falls | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (5:29) |
| The Ballad of Billy the Kid | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (6:52) |
| Don't Ask Me Why | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (4:49) |
| New York State of Mind | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (8:29) |
| I've Loved These Days | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (4:30) |
| My Life | Billy Joel, Chuck Willis, James Williams, |
Billy Joel | (5:47) |
| Allentown | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (4:48) |
| Prelude/Angry Young Man | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (5:23) |
| Only the Good Die Young | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (3:49) |
CD 2
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| I Go to Extremes | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (5:01) |
| Goodnight Saigon | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (7:28) |
| We Didn't Start the Fire | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (5:21) |
| Big Man on Mulberry Street | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (5:29) |
| 2000 Years | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (6:02) |
| Auld Lang Syne | Traditional, |
Billy Joel | (1:44) |
| River of Dreams | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (5:54) |
| Scenes from an Italian Restaurant | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (8:05) |
| Dance to the Music (Lyrics) | Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart | Billy Joel | (3:17) |
| Honky Tonk Women | Mick Jagger, Keith Richards | Billy Joel | (3:17) |
| It's Still Rock & Roll to Me | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (4:08) |
| You May Be Right | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (6:07) |
| This Night | Ludwig van Beethoven, Billy Joel | Billy Joel | (4:49) |
