'Arrow's Thanksgiving Episode To Feature Billy Joel

Just a few weeks ago, Oliver Queen referenced Batman on Arrow. Now, he will find himself facing [...]

Just a few weeks ago, Oliver Queen referenced Batman on Arrow. Now, he will find himself facing the Piano Man.

Pop music legend Billy Joel will make an appearance in this week's Thanksgiving-themed episode of Arrow, performing in Star City while a terrorist threatens to destroy the venue, EW reports.

While Joel himself did not appear in Vancouver to film his appearance, it is more than a cameo, using concert footage to represent the Star City show.

"For the Thanksgiving episode of Arrow, we wanted Cayden James to threaten a major event at Star City," executive producer Marc Guggenheim said. "A variety of ideas were discussed, but when we settled on a rock concert, I knew it had to be Billy Joel."

Guggenheim is an avowed Joel fan, and has referenced him numerous times in various Arrowverse shows, including during the recent "Phone Home" episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, in which vinyl LPs were used as weapons to keep a Dominator at bay (very briefly).

"I've been a fan of Billy and his music since I was 7 years old," Guggenheim told EW. "He's always been an inspiration to me, personally and artistically. I told him as much when I wrote to him to ask for his permission to use his concert footage in our episode and when he agreed, it was one of the happiest days of my career."

The song in question is "No Man's Land," a live favorite of Guggenheim's and the title of a major Batman comics story arc in the '90s.

The song appeared originally on "River of Dreams," Joel's 1993 album which was referenced by Ray Palmer on Legends of Tomorrow.

Arrow is no stranger to pop music references; each season, the penultimate episode of the season is named after a Bruce Springsteen song.

In the real world, Joel has been a musician since 1965, having been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, and Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

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