Bruce Springsteen’s run on Broadway is drawing some of the biggest raves of his illustrious career, which is really saying something. It’s also drawing some major star-power amongst the crowd. During his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday night, Billy Joel revealed that he saw the show himself recently — as a personal friend of Bruce he didn’t need to spring for the exorbitant ticket cost — and spotted Jimmy hanging out with Howard Stern from one of the upper balconies.
Naturally, guest and host began talking about Bruce, and Kimmel asked Joel to name his favorite Springsteen track. Surprisingly, he named the penultimate Born To Run track “Meeting Across The River,” then, while shouting a little bit of musical direction — “C Major 7!” — at Paul Schaffer who was sitting in with the band, performed a little snippet of it in an exaggerated, gritty Springsteen impression.
While chatting, Joel revealed that he approached Springsteen about performing together during his Broadway show, but that Bruce was against the idea. “I asked Bruce about that. He said there’s no special guest appearances during his show; it’s a scripted show,” he said. Then he jokingly offered to take over and allow Springsteen to man a couple of dates of his residency at Madison Square Garden. “I said, ‘Why don’t we switch off once in a while. You come do the Garden and I’ll do your gig for a few days.’ I think we’re both making the same amount of money based on what the ticket price is.”
Speaking of his Madison Square run, Joel also announced that he’s extending his residency until January 2018. “I thought it would taper off after four or five years, but they’re buying tickets faster now than they were at the beginning,” he said.
