Sting and Billy Joel Duet at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium

Sting, 72 years old and known for his international rock band The Police, joined Joel for one night only at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium for “Big Man on Mulberry Street”. Fans recorded footage showing Sting in full Sinatra gear as they performed together on stage for fans at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

Sting and Joel will co-headline various shows later this year.

The Englishman In New York

Sting and Billy Joel started their co-headlining tour together by performing an unexpected duet at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on Saturday night. Watch fan-shot clips below of this exciting collaboration!

An Englishman in New York continues the narrative from 1975’s The Naked Civil Servant by following makeup-wearing gay icon Quentin Crisp (John Hurt). While heterosexuals still admire him for his bold presence, members of his own community now ostracise him for crossing party lines; for example when he dismisses AIDS as “just another passing fad”.

Expecting them to reunite onstage for a reprise of ‘Englishman in New York’ would have left audiences in Tampa stunned, yet instead reggae-fusion star Shaggy took Tampa by surprise by joining in on chorus. Later in their set for Roxanne they did finally reconnect!

We Didn’t Start The Fire

Sting and Billy Joel put Tampa into a New York State of Mind during a co-headlining concert at Raymond James Stadium. Fans captured video of them jamming out together on one of their iconic hits – We Didn’t Start The Fire.

This 1989 song provides a window into political and cultural events from 1949 until its release date of 1989, detailing changes that took place over time and how they differ from earlier periods in an instantaneous flow of names, dates and events.

Fall Out Boy released an updated version in 2023 that defies chronological order, yet highlights iconic events since Joel’s original. From seismic global events (Brexit, the Arab Spring and L.A. Riots), pop culture artifacts (Michael Keaton as Batman; Twilight; Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man role; SpongeBob SquarePants), music performances by My Chemical Romance’s Black Parade at Woodstock 99), to mentions coronavirus pandemic; etc.

Big Man On Mulberry Street

Sting delivered a 16-song set that featured both his solo catalog and that of The Police; Joel offered up 24 songs over two hours – staying on stage through every song and inviting reggae star Shaggy for a duet performance on “Englishman in New York”.

This jazzy track about an underachiever who believes themselves to be big shots was inspired by Joel’s time living on the street where he worked on his first album. Furthermore, Joel and Cyd Charisse recreated an original dance sequence from Singing In The Rain as their version of it in film version of song.

Later in the show, Joel invited jazz fusion keyboardist and Return to Forever founder Chick Corea out for a three-song set. Together they performed Big Man on Mulberry Street, Zanzibar and New York State of Mind with longtime touring sax player and trumpeter.

The Entertainer

Ragtime musical about two confidence men, this film uses Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” as its theme song. Though at times repetitive and simplistic, this picture succeeds by showing an accomplished duo of con artists with endearing self-assurance gained over years of practice.

Joel and Sting collaborated for their inaugural One Night Only concert of 2019 this past Saturday in Tampa, Florida – marking one of many One Night Only shows planned throughout 2019. In Houston and St. Louis respectively they’ll also play together. Following his Madison Square Garden residency this summer Joel will also go out on tour alongside Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks to play additional One Night Only concerts this year.

Billy Joel and Sting performed some of their classic songs together in Tampa, and fans captured some video. Joel came over during Sting’s set to perform “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” Later during Joel’s set he came back out again halfway through to duet on “Big Man on Mulberry Street,” as seen below in this fan-captured clip.