NEWS
Robert De Niro has wished Billy Joel his “love and full support” on the opening night of the Tribeca Film Festival while reciting snippets of his songs.
The ‘Piano Man’ singer was due to appear at the premiere of his two-part documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, screened on Tribeca’s opening night yesterday (June 4). However, amid his recent diagnosis of brain disorder normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), Joel was absent from the premiere.
Now, Tribeca co-founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal have spoken about the legendary musician in their opening remarks. Throughout their speech, they recited lines from hits like ‘Movin’ Out’, ‘Only the Good Die Young’, ‘New York State of Mind’ and ‘You May Be Right’, with De Niro then calling Joel “the poet laureate of New York”.
“Billy wanted to be with us tonight, but as you may have heard, he’s dealing with a health issue and had to postpone his performances – including this one tonight,” Rosenthal added. “We know you’ll join us in wishing him a speedy recovery.”
De Niro continued, saying of the documentary: “He’s our piano man, a wonderful, beautiful part of the heart of our city. Tonight, you get to see the man behind the music and behind the legend. You’re in for a real treat.”
Billy Joel: And So It Goes was screened at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, and was directed by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin.
The documentary will air on HBO this summer, and is set to explore Joel’s life and music, “exploring the love, loss and personal struggles that fuel his songwriting”. The documentary will also feature access to never-before-seen performances, home movies, and personal photographs, along with one-on-one interviews.
Lacy told the audience at the premiere that Joel “will be back” soon, adding: “He said ‘getting old sucks, but it’s still preferable to getting cremated.’”
Meanwhile, Robert De Niro has said the world has to “stand up” to “bully” Donald Trump while accepting an honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival. He told The Guardian: “We have to stop what’s going on, it’s insane. We can’t have apathy and silence. You have to speak up and risk being harassed.”
During the festival, he also called for people to act “without violence, but with great passion and determination”, urging film fans and the audience to organise, protest, vote, and “show our strength”.
In other news, Billy Joel has insisted that “I’m not dying”.
Just days after landing her fourth No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Drop Dead,” Olivia Rodrigo is now getting major recognition from Niall Horan.
In a recent conversation with Rolling Stone published April 30, the former One Direction member shared insight into how he approaches songwriting, highlighting the comeback of bridges in pop and pointing to Rodrigo as a key influence behind it.
“It’s great to hear [bridges]. I feel like Olivia Rodrigo has been a big influence on that for pop writers,” the Irish artist said, before singing part of the “Drivers License” bridge. “What I like about Olivia’s music is [that] you feel like you’re getting one song and then you get a completely different song. It completely flips on its head musically, goes somewhere different, brings you to a bridge, brings you to some weird musical breakdown thing. Whatever [she] and Dan Nigro are up to is a good little team they’ve got going there. It’s definitely influencing people, including myself.”
Horan also spoke at length about his upcoming project Dinner Party, set to arrive June 5 through Capitol Records. He has already released two tracks from the record, including the title cut and “Little More Time,” both produced alongside Afterhrs, John Ryan and Julian Bunetta. The album rollout will be paired with an extensive 22-date tour across Europe, Ireland and the U.K. The Irish singer’s new release follows 2023’s The Show, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. During the interview, Horan also mentioned that his next era leans more into rock elements, something he connects back to his long-standing love for bands like Blink-182.
“That drum sound is something that we were trying to chase, and that comes from that late-’90s, early-2000s punk-rock era,” he said. “Rock’s been a big influence in my life since I was a child. I write pop songs, but dressing them up in a different way sometimes is quite cool. And now, the way my career is going, I’m completely thinking about live shows all the time. I learned so much from being on the road and being out there every night. There’s only so much sitting on Spotify you can do and reading comments before you actually get an idea of what people actually think. You can see it in the room. The rockier stuff really goes off at the shows.”
The “Slow Hands” hitmaker also has two U.S. stadium dates lined up for this year. Joining longtime friend and Grammy-nominated country artist Thomas Rhett, Horan is set to perform at GEODIS Park in Nashville on July 9 and Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania on July 19, with Live Nation handling promotion for both shows. Kashus Culpepper and Emily Ann Roberts will open the concerts. With such a packed touring schedule, all four remaining members of One Direction are expected to be on the road with new music this year. When asked about attending his former bandmates’ shows, Horan gave praise to Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.
“I went to Harry’s show a couple of years ago, and that was just wild. Madness going on there,” he said. “It reminded me of the 1D stadium shows where it was just seas of people jumping up and down. Watching the things going on on the floor, all the fans dancing around, I love that. You feel a sense of pride watching the boys doing what they love to do, and the communities that they’re able to create. I’m going to try and get to a Louis show of some capacity in the next few weeks.”
Horan is now the fourth One Direction member to drop a new album this year. Tomlinson released How Did I Get Here? in January, Styles hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally in March, and ZAYN followed with Konnakol earlier this month on April 17.
