Calling all StageSiders, welcome back to another review here at StageSideUK. This time around we are talking about Uptown Girl: The Billy Joel Collection which took to the stage of the Darlington Hippodrome on 18th November 2025. Settle in, the review is about to begin!
Disclaimer: I was gifted two free tickets in exchange for an honest review of the show.
Anyone who’s been with StageSideUK for a while will know my soft spot for a good tribute night. There’s something simply entertaining about an evening built around nostalgia, well knwon hits and the collective joy of a room full of people singing their hearts out. If there’s a chance of a gentle sway or even a bit of dancing at the end, well, that’s a bonus. So you can imagine my delight when the invitation to catch Uptown Girl at my local theatre landed in my inbox.
Uptown Girl: The Billy Joel Collection sets out to celebrate not just the music but the legacy of Billy Joel, an artist whos catalogue is far broader than I realised. The show offers a real mix of the classics, the deep cuts and a handful of stories that give a bit of insight into the man behind the piano. From the expected staples, Uptown Girl, Piano Man, She’s Always a Woman, Just The Way You Are, to tracks you don’t always hear outside dedicated fan circles, the setlist is designed to please loyal followers while giving newcomers a few surprises.
The band is, simply put, great. There’s a real sense of craft onstage: saxophones and clarinet cutting through punchy drum solos, the percussion section driving everything forward without overwhelming it, guitar and bass keeping the whole thing anchored. The piano, naturally, sits at the heart of it all, and the lead vocals are delivered with a smoothness that feels right. It’s one of those groups where you can tell everybody genuinely enjoys playing this music, and that energy carries across the footlights. Looking at the history of the cast, and casts in the past, you can see that this is a real hobby for them as well as a career.
That said, the first half wasn’t without a small hitch. The audio mix left the guitar struggling to be heard beneath the wind and percussion, which dulled the texture of a few numbers. Some solo moments I wasn’t aware the guitar was even being played. Thankfully, this felt like a kind of teething issue and was smoothed out by the interval, and the second half settled into a much better balance.
But here’s the thing, as someone who walked in unaware that Billy Joel had written such a range of music, from soulful ballads to punchy rock numbers, I found myself completely swept up in the magic of it all. Uptown Girl does a cracking job of revealing the full span of his work, and by the final number the audience was very much ‘in it’. People were up, dancing, singing along and come the encore the auditorium broke out into a mini disco!
If you’re after a night of solid music, a bit of storytelling and a good old-fashioned singalong, Uptown Girl does exactly what you want it to.
Accessibility
The show contains some loud musical elements such as guitar, drums and saxaphone especially in solos. Some people did get up and dance and there are a few moments where the audience is invited to sing along but it was fairly calm.
Value for money
Tickets for the show all came in at about £34 which is on the higher end of what I would pay. The show is good, the band are really great and the night flew by!
I really enjoyed the show and would happily see it again on a future tour. Tour tickets for 2026 are already on sale, as shows start in January. You can find out more information here: https://uptowngirlshow.com/ticket-page/
Have your say!
Have you seen Uptown Girl: The Billy Joel Collection? What did you think? Let me know in the comments and let’s get a discussion going.
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Kira Curtis