Billy Joel fans slam CBS for cutting singer off while he performed legendary song Piano Man during 100th Madison Square Garden concert to go to local news

Billy Joel fans were left furious with CBS after their broadcast of the legend's 100th consecutive Madison Square Garden concert was cut short to make way for local news.

To make matters worse, the 74-year-old was in the middle of his best-known song, Piano Man, when the transition was made.

The channel had understandably been giving their broadcast of the special performance the big build-up, but had already had to start showing it late after coverage of Scottie Scheffler's Masters win overran.

While seemingly not the case in all locations, viewers in eastern and central time zones also missed some of the end of the gig as Joel was about to go into the final verse of his iconic hit, according to X account @awefulannouncing.

They coined Joel's lyrics to say: 'Evidently, CBS was no longer in the mood for a melody.'

Billy Joel fans have slammed CBS for cutting off the legendary singer-songwriter during his most iconic song, Piano Man, at the end of their broadcast special of his 100th consecutive Madison Square Garden performance (pictured)

In many regions, the broadcast - recorded on March 28 - cut away to CBS' local news services, as Joel built up to the final verse of Piano Man

One fuming X user wrote: 'WTAF CBS! You cut off the end of the Billy Joel special in the middle of Effing PIANO MAN to start the frigging local news??? Sports games go long, all kinds of stuff goes long and you cut it off mid song IN THE FINALE??? WTH is wrong with you?! I have turned it OFF'

The broadcast was a recording of Joel's March 28 performance from MSG as he rounds off 'the greatest arena run of all time', which he announced was coming to an end last summer.

Fans who could not snap up a ticket for the show fumed as their chance to see Piano Man in its entirety passed them by. 

They said on X: 'CBS has been promoting the Billy Joel concert special every two minutes for WEEKS. So what better way to air it than to preempt it for a half hour and then cut him off MID-PIANO MAN? C'mon guys...

'Okay, @CBS just INFURIATED me. I got home from practice and got to watch party of Billy Joel's 100th residence show at MSG... AND THEY CUT OFF "PIANO MAN"! Not with like 5 seconds or so to go, but before the final chorus. Just to start the news at 1130. I. Am. FURIOUS...

'WTAF CBS! You cut off the end of the Billy Joel special in the middle of Effing PIANO MAN to start the frigging local news??? Sports games go long, all kinds of stuff goes long and you cut it off mid song IN THE FINALE??? WTH is wrong with you?! I have turned it OFF...

'Still can’t believe CBS cut its own Billy Joel special at Madison Square Garden to the local news while Piano Man was being sung and played. I get the special was delayed because the Masters ended late but that has to be programmed better...

'WTF CBS you can’t cut out in the middle of Piano Man for a promo for the 11pm news. A horrible end to what was a great production for the Billy Joel concert. Horrible horrible job...

'Billy, his band and the fans deserve better than CBS!...

The 74-year-old was in the middle of his best-known song when the transition was made

Many viewers who missed out on their chance to see the record-extending performance as intended hoped that this will result in the set being aired without ads in reaciton 

'Sometimes I feel like a bad person, but at least I'm not the person at CBS who cut off Billy Joel halfway into piano man...

'My 86 year old mom looked forward to it all day and was so disappointed to not see him perform piano man until the end...

'You couldn’t produce a worse product than CBS just did on the Billy Joel special. Way too many commercials, didn’t play some of his best songs, went extremely out of order in his set list, and then cuts away to the local news in the middle of Piano Man?!? A total flop by CBS...

'COME ON @CBS you made me sit through 10 minutes of the dude that won the Masters and watch a freaking sunset but you cut Billy Joel off in the middle of "Piano Man" for commercials?!...

'A painful #CBS broadcast. Network TV at its worst. Ten commercials after every song. Hopefully this will re-air commercial free somewhere...

'CBS just pulled the plug on Billy Joel IN THE MIDDLE OF PIANO MAN?? The disrespect.'

In the wake of the outrage, one of the news anchors who featured in the regional news broadcasts which played, Rex Smith, broke cover to apologise.

He wrote: 'I apologize to the people who were enjoying Billy Joel singing on TV then all of a sudden had to see my face. I’d have picked Billy Joel over me, too. For the record, we have no idea why that happened that way. I’m sure it will be looked into.'

Joel's record-extending 100th MSG concert was also streamed on Paramount+, whose viewers were seemingly not affected by the issue.

The Bronx-born musician became emotional after it was announced that his residency will end in July 2024, after what will be his 150th show at the venue.

Starting with December 14, 1978, Joel has sold out MSG more than any other artist, with his regular residency seeing him perform there every month since 2014. 

Rex Smith, one of the local anchors caught up in the storm, apologized for the mishap, explaining that 'we have no idea why that happened'

Joel's residency at MSG will end after a decade this July, with his 150th gig at the venue 

The legendary musician cried as he made the emotional announcement in 2023

Joel said last July: 'I'm kind of flabbergasted that it lasted as long as it did. My team tells me that we could continue to sell tickets, but ten years, 150 shows - all right already!'

'I do remember the first time we played Madison Square Garden, it was the pinnacle of my career. I thought, "My God, I'm headlining Madison Square Garden."

'Everybody in the world knows when you play The Garden, it's not just New York. To our audience, I want to thank them for coming to our shows for this long.

'It's hard to end, even at 150 lifetime shows. I just want to thank everyone for the wonderful thing that's happened here.'

Joel currently holds Madison Square Garden's only two performance-related records - one for 'Most Lifetime Performances By Any Artist,' currently at 146 shows, and one for 'Most Consecutive Performances By Any Artist,' now at 100 shows.

Despite being the longest-running residency at MSG, Joel changes each performance for his audience.