Andrew McMahon on Playing Billy Joel Tribute, New Symphony Show

In 1994, Andrew McMahon got to see his first-ever concert: Billy Joel at the Richfield Coliseum in Cleveland. He was in sixth grade, and his parents gifted him tickets to the River of Dreams tour for Christmas. “As soon as I started playing the piano, my parents gave me Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits – Volume I & Volume II,” he tells Rolling Stone over the phone. “They were like, ‘OK, if you’re going to be a piano singer-songwriter, this is your study material.’” 

More than three decades later, McMahon found himself at Carnegie Hall on March 12, performing “Piano Man” at The Music of Billy Joel, a tribute concert honoring the legend. McMahon had opened for Joel in 2017, but this was a full-circle moment he’d never experienced before. Not only was it his first time performing at the iconic New York City venue, but Joel himself was watchingfrom the opera box. “Jesus man, what a night,” McMahon says. “It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done, but it was one of the most magical moments I’ve had on a stage in my whole life. Getting to finish and then look up in the seats and see him do a standing ovation is pretty incredible.” 

It was McMahon’s first time performing with a harmonica holder around his neck, and he got to rehearse it on his recent Holiday From Real cruise. But he felt the pressure playing a song as on the nose as Joel’s breakthrough hit. “I really didn’t want to play ‘Piano Man’ in front of Billy Joel, to be perfectly honest,” he jokes. “I thought about doing ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ or ‘Pressure.’ ‘Captain Jack’ was one that I kicked around for a while. And then I watched as the list was getting made. There was a live Google doc where all the artists were putting in their first and second choices and in my mind, I was just like, ‘How can we do a Billy Joel tribute and not have somebody play ‘Piano Man’”? Nobody had chosen it. I was just like, ‘Fine, I’ll fall on the sword. I’ll try.’” 

On Monday, McMahon will announce his own special evening: a solo show with the Colorado Symphony on November 13, where he’ll perform orchestral renditions of songs from his bands Something Corporate, Jack’s Mannequin, and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. Held at Denver’s Boettcher Concert Hall at Denver Performing Arts Complex, the orchestra will be led by music director Peter Oundijan, resident conductor Christopher Dragon, associate conductor Wilbur Lin, and conductor laureate Marin Alsop.

“I think if you’ve followed along with the last couple of years, my big goal is really just to make the live shows unique experiences and multiple one-offs and special engagements,” he says. “There’s something about those spaces and just hearing classical takes on these songs that has gotten me super excited.” 

The symphony show follows McMahon’s reunion tours with Jack’s Mannequin and Something Corporate, and he’s ready to take a break from nostalgia. “It doesn’t turn me on, you know what I mean?” he says. “Having the 20 or 30 SoCo and Jack’s shows over the last couple of years, it really was the first time that made a lot of sense to me. I was like, ‘I can get on the nostalgia trip for this.’ But I knew pretty quickly into the last Jack’s Mannequin run that it’s like, ’OK, it’s time to keep it fresh, let’s get back in the studio, start working on new music. These fans have been here for so long, I want them to feel like, ‘Well, cool, I’ve seen it 10 million different ways.’ It’s not just, homie goes up there with a five-piece band and cranks out a couple hours worth of music.’” 

But one anniversary he does want to celebrate: the 20th anniversary of the Dear Jack Foundation, his charity he founded in 2006 after he survived acute lymphocytic leukemia when he was 22. “Strings Attached Featuring Andrew McMahon and the Colorado Symphony” marks the 17th annual benefit for the charity (details for the VIP event the night before will be released shortly, with tickets going on sale April 3.).

“My hope for the 20th year is just that we really start showing up in the circles of cancer charities that are really getting noticed, and making it possible for us to expand our reach and really wave the flag for the adolescent and young adults who are out there dealing with cancer,” he says. “Because sadly those numbers are not going down. They’re climbing, and the need is more present than even when I started this 20 years ago.”