Elio Pace spills the beans on his favourite Billy Joel song ahead of Sheffield show

Elio Pace will perform all the classic songs in smash-hit show The Billy Joel Experience touring to Sheffield City Hall on September 17.

He said: “Billy Joel is, from the very bottom of my heart, the greatest singer/songwriter of all time. So, I’m flattered and honoured that it’s me who gets to do the show. It’s a privilege to be the guy behind the piano, singing these songs.”

A successful musician in his own right, Elio had been working in musical theatre and on the corporate circuit for years before turning his attentions to The Billy Joel Songbook.

With hits like Piano Man, We Didn’t Start The Fire, She’s Always A Woman and Tell Her About It, Billy Joel’s back catalogue is a great resource for any musician. But with around 120 songs at his disposal, how did Elio shape the show?

“The Billy Joel song book is ridiculously awesome, and I want to keep introducing people to it – there’s loads of songs there that you just don’t hear, yet they’re incredible,” he explained.

“A great friend of mine, Matt Daniel-Baker – an amazing mind reader, is another massive Billy Joel fan, and I said to him I was putting a show together, and could he help me.

“We paced back and forth listening to every song, for hours, days, weeks, going on long car or train journeys, just to be able to get away from everything else and focus on the music. And from that, we fashioned a set list.

"We wrote that set list in 2014. We moved Uptown Girl, and made one other change early on, but nothing else since.”

While all the big hits feature, there’s an album track which plucks at Elio’s heartstrings far more than any of the chart-toppers.

“If I could only play one Billy Joel song forever more, it’s Lullaby (Goodnight My Angel). It’s a powerful moment in every show. It’s not just my favourite Billy Joel song, but my favourite song of all time.

“It comes from Billy’s very last album River Of Dreams in 1993 – but it wasn’t until 2009 that it really took the place in my heart, when my daughter Marcella was born.

“When I became a father to her, and then listened that song again I couldn't breathe. Billy Joel wrote it to his daughter when he was splitting up from her mother, to tell her he wasn’t going far.

“Until that time, I liked the song musically, I appreciated it for what it was, but as soon as I felt that love as a father…That song took on a whole new meaning. It floored me.

“In the show, it’s the calm before the storm – it’s the last song before we go into the final 20 minutes when it’s hit after hit, after hit to send everyone out on a party high.”

Tickets cost £22.95 for The Billy Joel Songbook show. Go to www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk