CBS officially released a statement on Monday (April 15) following Billy Joel's highly anticipated concert special, The 100th: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden – The Greatest Arena Run of All Timecut during the end of Joel's iconic ballad, “Piano Man”.
In the statement he shared with Advertising sign, a CBS spokesperson explained the confusion, writing “A network programming timing error ended last night's Billy Joel tribute approximately two minutes early in the Eastern and Central Time Zones. We apologize to Mr. Joel, his fans, our affiliate stations and our audience, whose viewing experience was interrupted during the last song. Due to huge demand from his legion of fans, BILLY JOEL: THE 100th – LIVE AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN will be televised in its entirety on CBS on April 19 at 9:00 PM ET/PT.”
According to viewers, the show was originally scheduled to run from 9-11 p.m. on CBS, but live coverage of the Masters golf tournament pushed back the start of Joel's concert by about half an hour, which meant that the climax of the show was cut for many viewers to air on the local news. As a result, for many fans, the screen went black during 1973's “Piano Man.”
Joel will return to MSG on April 26th and May 9th for two more home away shows before hitting the road this summer for a series of baseball stadium concerts that run through November.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/cbs-apologizes-billy-joel-madison-square-garden-broadcast-cut-off-1235657428/