Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Monday By the Numbers: Billy Joel, with a dash of ‘Zark’

Billy Joel and Gavin DeGraw at MGM Grand

Tom Donoghue / DonoghuePhotography.com

Billy Joel at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, June 7, 2014, in Las Vegas. Gavin DeGraw was the opening act.

Billy Joel and Gavin DeGraw at MGM Grand

Billy Joel at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, June 7, 2014, in Las Vegas. Gavin DeGraw was the opening act. Launch slideshow »

This week, Monday By the Numbers reminds, “I love you just the way you are,” in honor of William Martin Joel.

The Piano Man, as he is indefatigably known, performs Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena (tickets are $99-$225; go to TMobileArena.com for show info and ticket access on the AXS.com link). This is the only performance of 2016 in which Joel will be in a Nevada state of mind and his first show in two years in Las Vegas or anywhere else in Nevada.

Also folded into this column is the melancholy closing of “Zarkana,” the wondrous production at Aria that is being swept aside for the hotel’s convention center expansion that is to be completed by February 2018.

As it happens, “Zarkana” will be closing Saturday, too, just as Joel is singing about bread in my jar and asking, “Man, what are you doin’ here?”

La, de da … let’s roll the numbers:

51: Years Joel has been a professional entertainer.

45: Years since the release of his debut album, “Cold Spring Harbor.”

43: Years since the release of the album and single, “Piano Man.”

100-plus: Events recited in “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

40: Years covered in that song, dating from Joel’s birth in 1949 through 1989, the year it was released.

1: References to “British politician sex” in the song.

3: No. 1 singles released by Joel — “Tell Her About It,” “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

12: Top 10 Billboard singles released by Joel.

33: Top 40 Billboard singles released by Joel.

33: Top 40 Billboard singles released by Joel that were written by Joel.

150 million: Records sold by Joel worldwide.

$180 million: Joel’s reported net worth.

$32.5 million: Sales price Joel quoted to Jerry Seinfeld for the purchase of Joel’s home in the Hamptons, the largest sum ever paid for a house in the state of New York.

36: Shows that have been announced sellouts during Joel’s monthly residency at Madison Square Garden in New York (that series continues through Dec. 17).

$266: The average ticket price on the “secondary” market (for sites such as StubHub) for Joel tickets.

66: Joel’s age.

Double-6’s: The craps roll known as a “hard 12” at such casinos as Aria.

$154 million: Cost of the Aria convention center expansion that will overtake the Zarkana theater.

3 1/2: Years Zarkana has run at Aria.

2: Cirque shows that have closed on the Strip (“Viva Elvis” and “Zarkana,” both at Aria).

250: Costumes in “Zarkana.”

70: Performers in “Zarkana” who will take their final bows Saturday.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow Kats on Instagram at Instagram.com/JohnnyKats1.

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