Read the full review on the New York Post
Joel’s presence was still very much felt as the audience watched the first half of the two-part doc that will premiere on HBO and HBO Max later this summer.
Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal singing Billy Joel as they introduced the Tribeca opening night film pic.twitter.com/uvyzwpBRsi
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) June 4, 2025
He wanted to be a heavy-metal rocker
While we always think of Joel as the ultimate piano balladeer, he actually wanted to get his Led Zeppelin on with an early band.
The young Piano Man broke away from his early band The Hassles with Jon Small to form the heavy-metal duo Attila (as in Attila the Hun) in 1969 that set out to “destroy the world with amplification.”
“I didn’t know one person that liked what we were doing,” says Joel, who can be seen as the hair apparent to Robert Plant in the doc. “But I did.”
Joel broke his bandmate’s heart by stealing his best friend’s wife
Billy Joel married Elizabeth Weber in 1973, and she went on to become his manager.
The Piano Man fell in love with Elizabeth Weber, who was Small’s wife at the time.
“I was just in love with a woman,” he says. “And I got punched in the nose, which I deserved.”
He attempted suicide after falling into depression over the affair
How Billy Joel's Three Wives stole his heart and money. He has spent much of his life in battle against his ex-wives, against booze, bad managers and bankruptcy.
Elizabeth Weber and son Sean Weber-Small attended the Tribeca Festival premiere of “Billy Joel: And So It Goes.”
Joel met his first wife in 1970, through his friend and bandmate Jon Small. Elizabeth Weber was married to Small, and they had a baby son but Joel was knocked out.
When Small discovered the affair, Weber left them both, disappearing for weeks. Joel became suicidal. He was 21, broke, friendless, loveless and “crashing at my mom’s place again, which is abject failure.”
Not long after Weber took off, Joel overdosed on Nembutal, then called Small to apologize. Alarmed, Small raced to Joel’s mom’s house in Hicksville and found Joel on the floor. “The next thing I remember, I woke up in the hospital and learned that they had pumped my stomach, I thought to myself, ‘Oh, great, I couldn’t even do this right.’ It was another failure.”
A few weeks later, Joel tried again, this time drinking furniture polish.
The Plano Man didn’t like being compared to the Rocket Man
Billy Joel resisted attempts to make him work with Elton John’s band in the ’70s.
Getty Images
When it was suggested that Joel use Elton John’s band, he thought that it was “a terrible idea.”
“Why would I wanna work with another well-known piano player’s band?” he says. “The lack of imagination was staggering. And I was already having critical issue with them comparing me to Elton.”
“We’re deeply honored that this year’s Opening Night celebrates his remarkable legacy and enduring influence on New York’s cultural landscape,” the statement continued. “This is the perfect moment to recognize a creative force whose work reflects the very soul of our city — and the heart of Tribeca.”
This year's Tribeca Film Festival lineup has quite a few rock-related selections.
To begin, a documentary about Billy Joel titled Billy Joel: And So It Goes will kick off the festival, which begins June 4 and lasts until June 15. Joel himself is expected to perform.
There will also be showings of films about Depeche Mode (Depeche Mode: M), Billy Idol (Billy Idol Should Be Dead), Metallica, (Metallica Saved My Life), Counting Crows (Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately?) and Eddie Vedder (Matter of Time). Idol and Vedder will also perform after their film is played, while members of Metallica and Depeche Mode will participate in post-premiere conversations.
A new, two-part documentary about Billy Joel will premiere on HBO this summer.
Titled Billy Joel: And So It Goes, the new doc is directed by Susan Lacy – who created PBS’ American Masters series and has previously helmed HBO docs such as docs Jane Fonda in Five Acts, and Spielberg – and Jessica Levin, who produced those projects as well as The Janes, NME reports
