Billy Joel’s new documentary may show Central Pa. rehearsal studio

• By Mickayla Miller/LNP | LancasterOnline

Eagle-eyed viewers of the new Billy Joel documentary, “And So It Goes,” may see a not-so-little piece of Lancaster County.

In an early scene in the documentary, Joel prepares for an upcoming tour in a large rehearsal space that bears significant resemblance to Studio 2 at Rock Lititz. The space shown, around seven minutes in, has a gridded ceiling with lights and beams lining its perimeter, much like what’s in Studio 2.

“Rock Lititz has nothing to share on this, per our respect for all artists’ privacy whether they are or are not our clients,” says Jill Brown, spokesperson for Rock Lititz, when asked to confirm whether the location shown in the documentary was filmed at Rock Lititz.

Tait, an entertainment company that’s located in Lititz Borough and frequently partners with Warwick Township-based entertainment company Rock Lititz, confirmed in April 2024 that it helped to put on shows with Joel’s residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Joel’s relationship with Lancaster County has been established for many years.

An Esquire article about the Rock Lititz campus from April 2020 names Joel as Rock Lititz’s first client in the late ’70s, when the “proto Rock Lititz” venue was a gutted box factory in Lititz.

A writer with the New York Times, in an article about Lititz’s entertainment companies, quoted Clair Global co-founder Roy Clair in 2010 about Joel, and how he visited to check on a sound system ahead of a tour.

“He was in a limo or at least had a driver … So he’s on one of the main streets and rolls down the window to ask someone where Clair Brothers is. The guy looks at him and says: ‘I can’t tell you. They don’t like people to know.’ I mean, this is Billy Joel. But this is also Lititz, where they respect a local business,” Clair says about Joel in the article.

“And So It Goes” documents Joel’s life and career, talking about previous marriages, tours and more. Those interested in seeing the documentary can do so on streaming service HBO Max.