Billy Joelhas plenty of reasons to smile tonight!
To celebrate his 70th birthday on Thursday, the longtime musician performed to a sold out crowd — the 64th time he’s done so — at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
In an adorable photo, the family of four all had big smiles on their faces, as Della celebrated her dad’s big day in a party hat that read “Happy Birthday Billy!” with balloons on it — the same hats that were also handed out to the night’s crowd.
Myrna Suarez
After taking the stage, a source close to Joel tells PEOPLE the “Just the Way You Are” singer was surprised with video messages from a number of fellow musicians, includingPink,Garth Brooks, Brian Johnson from AC/DC and SirPaul McCartney.
In addition to the sweet messages, the source says Joel had two familiar faces join him on stage for two performances: his adult daughterAlexa Ray, 33, and little Della.
“Alexa Ray Joel performed ‘New York State of Mind’ and they brought Della Rose on stage to perform ‘Happy Birthday,'” the source says.
Billy Joel.BACKGRID
It wouldn’t be the first time that Joel has been joined onstage with his two daughters.
The legendary singer recently brought his girls onto the Madison Square Garden stage in December to have them perform — Alexa singing a duet of the holiday classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” with her dad while Della sang with him on her favorite song of his: “Don’t Ask Me Why.”
“We like to roll the family in [at Christmas],” Joel joked in the video of his daughter’s performance posted online afterward.
Billy Joel and Alexa Ray Joel in December.Myrna M. Suarez/Getty
Billy Joel and Della Rose.Myrna M. Suarez/Getty
MusicianPeter Framptonalso later appeared to play with Joel, which he revealed would be happening earlier in the day on Twitter.
“Soundcheck this afternoon at MSG with @billyjoel. So honoured to be asked to play at his 70th birthday show. Happy Birthday Billy!!! And thank you,” Frampton, 69, wrote, alongside a photo of apair rehearsing their performance.
One person who was unable to attend Joel’s birthday festivities on Thursday was his ex-wifeChristie Brinkley, who made sure to send her love from afar through a sweet shoutout on Instagram.
“Remember when we used to do the videos PRETENDING to be old? Well we still can’t do that look very well lol! !” Brinkley, 65, jokingly wrote. “Rock that Garden Tonight And I’ll do my best over here on Broadway at @chicagomusical”
“@alexarayjoel Sing the hell out of that birthday song ! #billys70th 📸 @myrnasuarezphoto,” the model added.
Alexa also shared the same photo to her Instagram hours earlier and sent sweet birthday wishes to her father ahead of their performance.
“Happy 70th Birthday To My Pops, The One N’ Only!!!🕊🔱🏹🖤👑🔮🕯⚜️Who’s coming to tonight’s Garden Show?! We’ve got lots of surprises in store for you…🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹” shewrote.
Speaking toRolling Stonerecently ahead of his milestone birthday, Joel revealed how turning 70 came with a lot of thoughts.
“On the one hand, I’m happy to be alive,” Joel recentlytold the outlet. “On the other hand, I don’t know how much of a party I deserve just for making it to 70. I mean, it’s a work night — you can’t have birthday cake, you can’t do any of that stuff.”
“This is a Peter Pan kinda job,” he added. “You start out, and you’re young, and you’re rockin’ and rollin’, and that’s what you do all your life. You become a little myopic about how old you actually are. I see pictures of myself at the Garden recently, and I go, ‘That don’t look right.’ I got old, I lost my hair. I was never a matinee idol to begin with, and there I am onstage still doing the same job I was doing when I was 16.”
source: people.com
