The Brewers are announcing a Miller Park concert Thursday. Odds are it'll be Billy Joel.
Is Billy Joel playing the Milwaukee Brewers' ballpark this year?
The Brewers and concert promoter Live Nation emailed media Wednesday morning teasing a major concert announcement for 10 a.m. Thursday at a press conference at Miller Park.
RELATED:These are all the Milwaukee arena, amphitheater and stadium concerts happening in 2019
But the Brewers may have inadvertently let the cat out of the bag.
After the email made the rounds, a curious reader contacted the Journal Sentinel with a solid hunch.
He went to brewers.com, and then added names of stadium-filling superstars to see if it would offer any clues. Last year, for instance, the concert page for Ed Sheeran's Miller Park concert was brewers.com/edsheeran.
RELATED:Ed Sheeran puts on a stadium concert like no other at Miller Park in Milwaukee
RELATED:Milwaukee Brewers apologize for terrible traffic to Ed Sheeran's Miller Park concert
When he tried brewers.com/garthbrooks, it led him to the team's home page. A lucky guess — the country superstar is playing stadiums this year, but Live Nation isn't his promoter.
Then he thought about Billy Joel. And sure enough, when he typed brewers.com/billyjoel, it led him to an empty page with the headline "Billy Joel at Miller Park." It's not an old page, either — Joel has never played Miller Park before.
We did the same thing and landed on the same page. (No doubt the Brewers will pull the page ASAP, if they haven't by the time you read this.)
Joel's booking makes a lot of sense. In lieu of standard tours, he tends to do one-off shows these days, often at stadiums, and those concerts are often accompanied by teases and press conferences. That was the case when he played Lambeau Field in 2017, his first Green Bay appearance.
RELATED:Billy Joel and Lambeau prove to be perfect match
RELATED:Billy Joel fans, we salute you
RELATED:Billy Joel fans pick their 'desert island' song
He also played Wrigley Field for the fifth consecutive year last summer, a record for the Chicago Cubs stadium. He hasn't announced a Wrigley date yet for 2019, and a Miller Park booking makes sense as an alternative, a means to cater to the Chicago fans who may not get that local show in 2019 while luring new ticket buyers closer to Milwaukee.
Also, Joel is long overdue for a Milwaukee appearance. If he is playing Miller Park this year, it will be his first show in the city in 11 years.
More on Music
Piet Levy talks about concerts, local music and more on "TAP'd In" with Jordan Lee, 8 a.m. Thursdays on WYMS-FM (88.9). Follow him on Twitter @pietlevy and on Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.