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Joe Elliott Joins Billy Joel on Stage in Detroit

Billy Joel performed live at Comerica Park in Detroit on Saturday evening (July 9). As he often does, the “Piano Man” was joined by a rock legend on stage. As…

Joe Elliott and Billy Joel
Dimitrios Kambouris, Brad Barket/Getty Images

Billy Joel performed live at Comerica Park in Detroit on Saturday evening (July 9). As he often does, the "Piano Man" was joined by a rock legend on stage. As timing would have it, the members of Def Leppard were in town, since Sunday night (July 10), Def Leppard's tour with Motley Crue, Poison and Joan Jett rolled through Detroit.

Joel is friends with Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott, and he brought Elliot on the stage during the concert. They performed the Def Leppard staple "Pour Some Sugar on Me," to the delight of the crowd. Watch fan-filmed footage of the performance below.

Joel, 73, went on to entertain the crowd with a bevy of his greatest hits, such as “Keeping the Faith,” “Allentown,” “Piano Man,” “Movin’ Out,” “She’s Always A Woman,” Just The Way You Are," “Innocent Man" and many more. The encore offered “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” “Uptown Girl,” “It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me,” “Big Shot” and “You May Be Right.”

Billy Joel celebrates his birthday on May 9! While his long-running residency at New York City's Madison Square Garden has been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, it's currently slated to pick back up in November 2021

Since his residency began in January 2014, Joel has always tried to keep fans guessing during his monthly MSG shows and has welcomed a variety of special guests. In honor of The Piano Man’s birthday, here are seven of our favorite residency cameos.

Christie Brinkley

Joel’s August 2014 residency show saw him dust off “Uptown Girl,” which, of course, is about his ex-wife Brinkley, but the audience blew up once they saw the supermodel on the jumbotron in attendance.

Jimmy Fallon

The Tonight Show host joined Joel at his 25 residency gig in January 2016, where he did his best Mick Jagger impersonation for a performance of “Start Me Up.”  It’s equal parts ridiculous and fun.

Brian Johnson

Considering Johnson’s somewhat recent retirement from the stage, this performance of “You Shook Me All Night Long” from Joel’s December 2014 residency show is all the more poignant.

John Mellencamp

Indiana’s favorite son made his second guest appearance during Joel’s residency at the March 2017 show.  This time around, Mellencamp and Joel dueted on “Authority Song” to a raucous crowd.

Foreigner’s Lou Gramm and Mick Jones

During Joel's January 2018 MSG show, Gramm and Jones surprised the capacity crowd and performed two of their biggest hits, “Urgent" and “Cold As Ice.”

Bruce Springsteen

For Joel's 100th show ever at MSG, The Boss joined The Piano Man on stage performed “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” and “Born To Run”

John Fogerty

John Fogerty joined Joel for two songs during his March 2019 MSG gig: Creedence Clearwater Revival classics “Up Around The Bend” and “Fortunate Son.”

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Anne Erickson started her radio career shortly after graduating from Michigan State University and has worked on-air in Detroit, Flint, Toledo, Lansing and beyond. As someone who absolutely loves rock, metal and alt music, she instantly fell in love with radio and hasn’t looked back. When she’s not working, Anne makes her own music with her band, Upon Wings, and she also loves cheering on her favorite Detroit and Michigan sports teams, especially Lions and MSU football. Anne is also an award-winning journalist, and her byline has run in a variety of national publications. You can also hear her weekends on WRIF.