Scott MacIntyre: My piano duel with Matt Giraud got scrapped because Billy Joel could not make it
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There has been one largely unspoken question on the minds of piano fans everywhere this season of American Idol: will the two pianists play together??? Well, what better time to showcase Scott MacIntyre and Matt G. in a fierce battle of the keys than during the American Idol Season 8 Finale!
That’s right… We had two gorgeous grand pianos facing each other on stage, the piano curves fit together like shoes in a shoebox, and close-up camera shots of our fingers and faces were displayed on three huge jumbotrons at the front of the 7,000 seat Nokia Theatre as we sang in turn through Billy Joel’s “Tell Her About It” and dueled it out in a tear-it-up piano solo section. According to some of the producers who witnessed our rehearsal, it was the most exciting and memorable number of the entire Finale show. I have the original Finale flow sheet right here showing the piano duel immediately after Kris Allen and Keith Urban.
We got to the Nokia Theatre on Wednesday morning (show day) and out of the blue about 9:30am found out the duet had been cut and the decision was final. Needless to say, I was shocked. American Idol had originally invited Billy Joel himself to perform with us, but he was unable to make it in the end; and because our duet was the only duet not involving another celebrity, it was the first thing to be cut when the show was condensed.