The River of Dreams Tour was a 1993–1995 concert tour by singer-songwriter Billy Joel. This tour was the first tour by Joel in two and a half years.

Background After spending a year and a half on tour following the release of Storm Front, Joel took a year off before recording the follow-up album River of Dreams.

Shortly before the tour started, Joel and his wife Christie Brinkley separated, and eventually filed for divorce, which was finalized in August 1994.

After performing on the Late Show with David Letterman (Joel was the first musical guest on the show), the tour kicked off in Portland, Maine, on September 10, 1993, and ended in Tokyo, Japan, on January 24, 1995.

During July and August 1994, Joel teamed up with fellow piano player Elton John on the first ever Face to Face tour in which Joel and John played 21 shows (all in stadiums) across the United States. In March and April 1995, after the River of Dreams Tour's conclusion, Joel joined John for 12 more shows across the United States, including one in Canada.

Tour dates DateCityCountryVenueNorth America September 10, 1993 Portland United States Cumberland County Civic CenterSeptember 14, 1993 Boston Boston GardenSeptember 17, 1993September 20, 1993September 23, 1993 Philadelphia The SpectrumSeptember 25, 1993September 27, 1993September 28, 1993October 2, 1993 New York City Madison Square GardenOctober 4, 1993October 6, 1993October 8, 1993October 9, 1993October 12, 1993October 14, 1993 Philadelphia The SpectrumOctober 15, 1993October 18, 1993 Landover USAir ArenaOctober 19, 1993October 22, 1993 Hartford Hartford Civic CenterNovember 2, 1993November 4, 1993 Landover USAir ArenaNovember 6, 1993 Worcester The CentrumNovember 7, 1993November 12, 1993 Syracuse Carrier DomeNovember 13, 1993November 16, 1993 Rosemont Rosemont HorizonNovember 18, 1993 Cincinnati Riverfront ColiseumNovember 19, 1993 Rosemont Rosemont HorizonNovember 29, 1993 Portland Portland Memorial ColiseumDecember 1, 1993 Seattle Seattle Center Coliseum December 3, 1993 Vancouver Canada Pacific ColiseumDecember 5, 1993 Oakland United States Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum ArenaDecember 7, 1993 Sacramento ARCO ArenaDecember 9, 1993 San Diego San Diego Sports ArenaDecember 11, 1993 Phoenix American West ArenaDecember 13, 1993 Los Angeles Los Angeles Memorial Sports ArenaDecember 15, 1993 Salt Lake City Delta CenterDecember 17, 1993 Las Vegas Thomas & Mack CenterDecember 18, 1993 Anaheim Arrowhead Pond of AnaheimDecember 29, 1993 Uniondale Nassau Veterans Memorial ColiseumDecember 31, 1993January 2, 1994January 4, 1994January 6, 1994January 8, 1994January 9, 1994 Hartford Hartford Civic CenterJanuary 12, 1994 Pittsburgh Civic ArenaJanuary 14, 1994Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn HillsJanuary 15, 1994January 18, 1994 Albany Knickerbocker ArenaJanuary 20, 1994January 22, 1994 Toronto Canada Maple Leaf GardensJanuary 25, 1994 Richfield United States Richfield ColiseumJanuary 28, 1994 Atlanta Omni ColiseumJanuary 29, 1994 Charlotte Charlotte ColiseumFebruary 4, 1994 Memphis Pyramid ArenaFebruary 6, 1994 Birmingham Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center ColiseumFebruary 8, 1994 Miami Miami ArenaFebruary 10, 1994 St. Petersburg ThunderDomeFebruary 12, 1994 Orlando Orlando ArenaFebruary 14, 1994 Miami Miami ArenaFebruary 18, 1994February 19, 1994March 6, 1994 Uniondale Nassau Veterans Memorial ColiseumMarch 10, 1994 Minneapolis Target CenterMarch 12, 1994March 15, 1994 Milwaukee Bradley CenterMarch 17, 1994 Richfield Richfield ColiseumMarch 21, 1994 Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn HillsMarch 24, 1994 Buffalo Buffalo Memorial AuditoriumMarch 27, 1994 Indianapolis Market Square ArenaMarch 29, 1994 Louisville Freedom HallMarch 31, 1994 Ames Hilton ColiseumApril 4, 1994 Dallas Reunion ArenaApril 6, 1994 Houston The SummitApril 8, 1994 New Orleans Louisiana SuperdomeApril 10, 1994 North Charleston North Charleston ColiseumApril 12, 1994 Chapel Hill Dean Smith CenterApril 15, 1994 Miami Miami ArenaApril 16, 1994EuropeMay 7, 1994 London England Earls Court Exhibition CentreMay 9, 1994May 11, 1994May 13, 1994 Glasgow Scotland Scottish Exhibition and Conference CentreMay 15, 1994 Birmingham England NEC ArenaMay 17, 1994 Rotterdam Netherlands AhoyMay 18, 1994 Ghent Belgium Flanders ExpoMay 21, 1994 Dublin Ireland RDS ArenaMay 24, 1994 Milan Italy Forum di AssagoMay 26, 1994 Vienna Austria Wiener StadthalleMay 31, 1994 Berlin Germany WaldbühneJune 2, 1994 Munich OlympiahalleJune 4, 1994 Salzburg Austria ResidenzplatzJune 6, 1994 Dortmund Germany WestfalenhallenJune 8, 1994 Paris France Palais Omnisports de Paris-BercyJune 10, 1994 Zürich Switzerland HallenstadionJune 12, 1994 Nuremberg Germany ZeppelinfeldJune 14, 1994 Stuttgart Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle June 16, 1994 Oldenburg Weser-Ems-HalleJune 18, 1994 Frankfurt FesthalleNorth AmericaOctober 8, 1994 Phoenix United States Blockbuster Desert Sky PavilionOctober 11, 1994 Denver McNichols Sports ArenaOctober 13, 1994 Kansas City Kemper ArenaOctober 15, 1994 St. Louis Kiel CenterOctober 17, 1994 Cleveland Gund ArenaOctober 19, 1994 Chicago United CenterOctober 22, 1994 Antioch Starwood AmphitheatreOctober 23, 1994 Knoxville Thompson–Boling ArenaOctober 26, 1994 Moline The MARK of the Quad CitiesOctober 28, 1994 Champaign Assembly HallOctober 30, 1994 Fargo FargodomeOceaniaNovember 13, 1994 Melbourne Australia National Tennis CentreNovember 15, 1994November 17, 1994November 19, 1994November 22, 1994 Brisbane Brisbane Entertainment CentreNovember 24, 1994November 26, 1994November 28, 1994 Sydney Sydney Entertainment CentreNovember 30, 1994December 2, 1994December 4, 1994December 5, 1994December 8, 1994 Adelaide Adelaide Entertainment CentreDecember 10, 1994December 13, 1994 Perth Perth Entertainment CentreDecember 14, 1994December 17, 1994 Auckland New Zealand Western Springs StadiumAsiaJanuary 9, 1995 Tokyo Japan Nippon BudokanJanuary 11, 1995January 12, 1995January 15, 1995 Fukuoka Fukuoka DomeJanuary 18, 1995 Osaka Osaka-jō HallJanuary 19, 1995January 21, 1995 Yokohama Yokohama Arena January 23, 1995 Tokyo Nippon BudokanJanuary 24, 1995

Setlist This setlist is from the September 17, 1993 show at Boston Garden. It does not represent all the dates throughout the tour.

"A Matter of Trust" "No Man's Land" "Pressure" "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" "The River of Dreams" "Prelude/Angry Young Man" "Allentown" "All About Soul" "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" "My Life" "I Go to Extremes" "An Innocent Man" "The Downeaster "Alexa"" "Shameless" "Shades of Grey" "Goodnight Saigon" "We Didn't Start the Fire" "You May Be Right" "Only the Good Die Young" "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" "Big Shot" "Piano Man"

Personnel Billy Joel – lead vocals, piano, keyboards, harmonica Mark Rivera – saxophone, flute, clarinet, vocals, percussion, keyboards, rhythm guitar Tommy Byrnes – lead guitar, vocals Tom "T-Bone" Wolk – bass guitar, accordion, vocals David Rosenthal – keyboards Crystal Taliefero – percussion, saxophone, guitar. Liberty DeVitto – drums, percussion

References