Billy Joel
at Nassau Coliseum
1977 to 2017
Dec. 11, 1977 (1 show)
The Stranger
Billy Joel remembers feeling on the night of Dec. 11, 1977, that it was a case of “Hometown Boy Makes Good.”
“That was a big charge,” Joel said in a June 2015 interview. “All of a sudden, here I am playing in arenas after years of slogging away in the trenches. Now, I’m home and I’m playing the big room, so of course that was a thrill.”
WNEW-FM’s Pete Fornatale put the night in perspective, telling the capacity crowd, “This is a homecoming for all of us as much as it is for Billy.”
Long Island got the chance to celebrate its own homegrown rock star in its own arena. It was an event to remember. And Joel did his best to make it special, even changing up his show. “Now you don’t have to sit around waiting for that song,” Joel said, after he played “Piano Man” early in the set.
Set listBy the numbers
- Attendance 18,000
- Copies sold of “The Stranger” 10 million
- Grammys won for “Just the Way You Are” 2
Billy Joel remembers
We’d worked in the New York-Long Island area for so long that we thought [Nassau Coliseum] was the right place for us to start doing arenas … I also chalked it up to local following. I thought, ‘this hasn’t translated nationally.’ I hadn’t realized at the time that it actually had.
It took me awhile to catch up with what was going on. The album [‘The Stranger’] had gotten so big, but you don’t know when you’re out on the road just playing. The rooms get bigger, you think, ‘Well, OK, more people heard about us.’
Review
On “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” he sounded very much like Paul McCartney would sound if McCartney had grown up in Hicksville. Joel, however, brought to mind other artists last night. “New York State of Mind” is such a perfect counterpart to “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” that it’s a wonder Tony Bennett hasn’t recorded it. Joel sang the song with a growly inflection that made it clear that this would also be a fine vehicle for Ray Charles. Joel added a few words to the lyrics for this occasion. On the original recording, Joel notes missing “The New York Times, the Daily News.” Last night, Joel added “Newsday, too” to that line and the audience actually cheered. — Wayne Robins, Newsday, Dec. 12, 1977
SET LIST
The Stranger
Somewhere Along the Line
Summer, Highland Falls
Piano Man
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Travelin’ Prayer
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Still Crazy After All These Years
Just the Way You Are
Prelude
Angry Young Man
New York State of Mind
The Entertainer
Vienna
Root Beer Rag
She’s Always a Woman
I’ve Loved These Days
Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
The Ballad of Billy the Kid
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Captain Jack
Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Only the Good Die Young
ENCORES:
Get It Right the First Time
Souvenir
May 28, 1979 (1 show)
Charity Begins at Home
This was very much, ‘I owe you. I’m very grateful that you’ve supported me and you’re coming to see me at these big arenas.’ — Billy Joel
Billy Joel had been looking for a way to give back to Long Island and received a letter from the Rehabilitation Institute in Mineola suggesting a concert. He thought it was a good idea and established the Charity Begins at Home charitable organization to handle the proceeds.
“This was very much, ‘I owe you. I’m very grateful that you’ve supported me and you’re coming to see me at these big arenas,’ ” Joel said, in June 2015, of the show.
The sold-out show, which became the first in a long series of fundraising concerts, generated money and publicity for local nonprofit groups, ranging from vocational training centers to those serving underprivileged children.
By the numbers
- Charities helped by the concert 8
- Record stores that participated in supporting the show 25
- Money raised for various charities by the sold-out concert $300,000
July 24-25, 1980 (2 shows)
Glass Houses
Billy Joel had sold out five shows at Madison Square Garden the month before, but he wanted to give Long Islanders a taste of the “Glass Houses” tour on their home turf. He turned two shows at the Coliseum into benefits for Charity Begins at Home — which his then-wife Elizabeth had just started to run full-time as she stepped away from managing Joel’s career — and sold those shows out as well. It was a heady time. “Glass Houses” was in its sixth week at No. 1 on the albums chart and “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” had just started its two-week run atop the singles charts.
By the numbers
- Prime ticket cost $25
- Total number of tickets sold for both shows 32,000
- Amount distributed to various LI charities $600,000
He did ‘The Stranger,’ ‘Honesty,’ ‘I Love You Just the Way You Are.’ That was really unbelievable to be sitting there listening to him play. — Adrian Kaplan Rosen, Syosset
‘It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me’ is the song by which many will remember the summer of 1980. — Wayne Robins, Newsday, June 25, 1980
SET LIST
(July 24, 1980)
You May Be Right
Only the Good Die Young
My Life
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Piano Man
Summer, Highland Falls
Zanzibar
She’s Got a Way
Stiletto
The Stranger
Don’t Ask Me Why
New York State of Mind
Prelude/Angry Young Man
Sleeping With the Television On
She’s Always a Woman
Just the Way You Are
Sometimes a Fantasy
Big Shot
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
ENCORES:
All for Leyna
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Souvenir
Dec. 29, 1982 (1 show)
The Nylon Curtain
The concert was being filmed for Joel’s first concert special, “Live from Long Island,” which aired on HBO in 1983. That meant the house lights were up for nearly the entire concert, cameras were zooming around and the audience was filled with VIPs.
“Everyone I ever knew in my whole life is here,” joked Joel.
He also introduced a lot of new material from his album “The Nylon Curtain,” which arrived only a few months earlier, creating an unusual flow to the Coliseum concert.
Set listBy the numbers
- Peak position of “The Nylon Curtain” on the album charts 7
- Length of concert that aired on HBO, in minutes 80
- Actual length of concert, in minutes 150
- Copies of “The Nylon Curtain” sold 2 million
- Band members who toast the crowd with a bottle of white and a bottle of red during “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” 4
Review
Wednesday’s performance was peculiar. The mood of the nearly two-and-a-half-hour show was dictated not by the band and not by the audience, but by the camera lights that never went dim. … The benign aura of mutual self-congratulation between Joel and his hometown audience soon became one of self-consciousness. … The older songs were received with more enthusiasm. The band performed with quiet confidence, yet sounded completely more restrained than it is capable of being. — Wayne Robins, Newsday, Dec. 31, 1982
SET LIST
Allentown
My Life
Prelude/Angry Young Man
Piano Man
The Stranger
Scandinavian Skies
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Pressure
Until the Night
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Just the Way You Are
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
Sometimes a Fantasy
Big Shot
You May Be Right
ENCORES:
Only the Good Die Young
Souvenir
Dec. 21 & 31, 1989 (2 shows)
Storm Front
Inspired by a visit with Sean Lennon, who worried about the state of the world in 1989, Joel wrote “We Didn’t Start the Fire” to chronicle what he had seen and survived in his lifetime. He may not have started “the fire,” but one had certainly been lit in him in terms of social causes. In addition to “Fire,” Joel focused on the plight of Long Island’s baymen in “The Downeaster ‘Alexa'” both on the “Storm Front” album and in his concerts.
By the numbers
- Cost of a ticket $22.50
- Amount brokers were charging for prime seats $500
- Copies of “Storm Front” sold 4 million
- Tickets confiscated from scalpers by police and donated to Little Flower Children’s Services 28
Review
In Joel’s guileless good humor, the sentimentality of his records — toward the Long Island fishermen, toward a stylized myth of tight-trousered adolescence, or that New York state of mind — came off as genuine affection. Even the deliberate mush-headedness of “Still Rock ‘n Roll to Me” and “You May Be Right” became direct and inspiring.
There is a line somewhere between self-indulgence and just playing around, and Joel, even at his hammiest, kept to the right side of it. … He emanated corniness like gamma rays. He boxed with his microphone stand, held himself as if nailed to the cross, and even assumed the sprinter’s starting position atop his black baby grand. And for some unfathomable reason, he used smoke machines almost continuously throughout the show. But in his hometown, it all played as good-natured hucksterism; we were always in on the fun. Joel was Buster Poindexter without the hip distancing.
And that was, for all the surprisingly good music, the most striking thing about the evening. It was rare to see a star of his stature be so unguarded onstage. What I missed most in the Rolling Stones — some sense of self, a rapport with the audience — Joel delivered in spades. — John Leland, Newsday, Dec. 23, 1989
SET LIST
(Dec. 21, 1989)
Storm Front
Allentown
Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
Prelude/Angry Young Man
New York State of Mind
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
The Downeaster Alexa
Goodnight Saigon
I Go to Extremes
Pressure
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Leningrad
An Innocent Man
Big Man on Mulberry Street
Shameless
We Didn’t Start the Fire
Uptown Girl
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
You May Be Right
Only the Good Die Young
A Matter of Trust
Big Shot
Keeping the Faith
Piano Man
December 1993-March 1994 (7 shows)
River of Dreams
Though it was an impressive tour for an album that debuted at No. 1, the “River of Dreams” run at Nassau Coliseum — Dec. 29 and 31, 1993; Jan. 2, 4, 6, 8 and March 6, 1994 — was bittersweet.
For opening night, Joel missed daughter Alexa’s eighth birthday party, though he did lead the crowd in a round of “Happy Birthday” that he played for her when he got home. He also dedicated “We Didn’t Start the Fire” to his friend, bassist Howie Blauvelt, who died earlier in the year. At the New Year’s Eve show, Joel fell off the piano and hit his head, forcing him to head to the Garden City Hotel after the show rather than making the long drive out to his then-home in East Hampton.
By the numbers
- Weeks “River of Dreams” spent at No. 1 on the albums chart 3
- Number of minutes in the concert 150
- Attendance for each show 17,847
- Copies of “River of Dreams” sold 5 million
Review
Leave the headsets and production numbers to Janet Jackson and Madonna. These days, in his current state of grace, Billy Joel could probably perform with just a piano and no one would be disappointed — certainly not the devoted crowd that braved the snow to pack Nassau Coliseum Wednesday.
Where other big-league performers strive to create showy illusion loaded with unattainable glamour, Billy Joel still pounds ’em out here on Earth, adding only the self-deprecating flash that acknowledges itself. When he does Elvis Presley arm-and-leg gestures or attempts Joe Tex tricks with the mike stand, Joel isn’t trying to be anything but a humble fan enjoying the reference. And though sincerity, spontaneity and awareness of an audience as people rather than demographic dollar signs are not universal values among arena performers, Billy Joel remains a flesh-and-blood guy who can actually share what’s on his mind with his fans between — and during — songs.
Beginning a long homestand with a show that he announced was being recorded, Joel was the homecoming king, an avuncular hero returning from his travels, a fond nostalgist bringing old songs to old friends. — Ira Robbins, Newsday, Dec. 31, 1993
SET LIST
(Dec. 29, 1993)
No Man’s Land
Pressure
New York State of Mind
River of Dreams
Prelude/Angry Young Man
The Ballad of Billy the Kid
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
My Life
Vienna
I Go to Extremes
An Innocent Man
The Downeaster Alexa
Goodnight Saigon
We Didn’t Start the Fire
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
You May Be Right
Only the Good Die Young
Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
Keeping the Faith
Piano Man
January-May 1998 (9 shows)
Greatest Hits: Vol. III
“That was kind of a victory lap,” Joel says of his “Greatest Hits: Vol. III” tour ending at the Coliseum in 1998 with a record-setting nine-show run (Jan. 29; Feb. 2, 9, 11, 14, 16; April 30; and May 1, 4, 1998). It had been five years since he had decided to stop recording popular music, following the “River of Dreams” album in 1993. His popularity, though, was still growing through touring and the release of three greatest-hits collections. Joel’s greatest-hits albums, with 23 million copies sold, are the third-biggest-selling albums in history, behind only Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and The Eagles’ “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975.”
“There was all this talk of ‘Where are we going to do this?’ ” says Joel, whose name hung in the rafters of the Coliseum following the record-setting run, alongside banners celebrating the Stanley Cup-winning Islanders teams. “We’re doing it at home. The momentum was there. The demand was there. I thought, ‘Really? They want us to play that many times? We can sell that many tickets? OK.’ It felt good.”
The final show of that tour — on May 4, 1998 — was the last time Joel played the Coliseum by himself.
By the numbers
- Musicians with a banner in Nassau Coliseum before Joel on this tour 0
- Height of Joel’s banner, in feet 15
- Ticket price $37.50
- Total gross for “Greatest Hits: Vol. III” tour $47 million
- People who saw the tour 1.1 million
Review
There was no doubt that he reveled in being on his native Long Island, where he was kicking off a string of homecoming shows as part of a Northeast tour. He cracked enough jokes about his early years here to give the show the air of a high school reunion, bantering about skipping school to hang out at Jones Beach — “under the tunnel at Parking Field Four” — and cruising Hempstead Turnpike in a futile quest for women. At one point, he grabbed the hand of a man in the front row and exclaimed: “I grew up across the street from this [expletive] guy!”
The sold-out crowd, which included many baby boomers with their children in tow, reveled back. By the time Joel reached his third song, the defiant “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” the entire arena was chanting the lyrics along with him. Joel was the man who had moved out; but he’d returned to the fold with tales to share with those who’d never left. — Letta Tayler, Newsday, Jan. 31, 1998
SET LIST
(Jan. 29, 1998)
Prelude/Angry Young Man
Allentown
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Just the Way You Are
Stiletto
Big Man on Mulberry Street
The Downeaster Alexa
Pressure
All About Soul
The Longest Time
My Life
Summer, Highland Falls<
I Go to Extremes
Everybody Has a Dream
New York State of Mind
Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)
River of Dreams
We Didn’t Start the Fire
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
Only the Good Die Young
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
Captain Jack
You May Be Right
Piano Man
Sept. 25 & 27, Oct. 11 & 13, 2002 (4 shows)
Face2Face
These were the shows at the Coliseum that solidified Billy Joel’s comeback. In the months leading up to this tour with Elton John, Joel had dealt publicly with the worst problems of his career. He had gone through a well-publicized stint in rehab and high-profile traffic accidents, as well as a respiratory infection that had some questioning his ability to perform.
On this tour, he put those issues behind him and started to have fun again. Years later, Joel remembers joking around with John, telling him, “You know I grew up about 15 minutes from here.” He laughs as he recalls John saying, “Yes, I threw up about 15 minutes from here.”
“I thought it was hysterical,” Joel says. “I couldn’t stop laughing the whole night.”
By the numbers
- Year-end ranking of Joel and John in Billboard’s top-grossing tours 3
- No. 1 songs in the set 4
- Cost of prime ticket $175
- Length of show, in minutes 210
- Total gross for 2002 Face2Face tour $66 million
Review
Fear not, Billy Joel fans. The Piano Man is doing just fine.
At any given moment in the 3 ½-hour ‘Face to Face Tour’ extravaganza, the 53-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer from Hicksville could be found riding his piano stool like a bucking bronco, step-dancing atop his baby grand like he was Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance, or swinging between the pianos like they were the parallel bars and he wanted a perfect 10 from the East German judge.
Or maybe he just wanted a perfect 10 from his fans.
— Glenn Gamboa, Newsday, Sept. 26, 2002 (reviewing the Madison Square Garden show)
SET LIST
(Sept. 25, 2002)
JOEL & JOHN:
Your Song / Just the Way You Are / Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me
JOHN SET:
Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Philadelphia Freedom
I Want Love
Rocket Man
Take Me to the Pilot
Have Mercy on the Criminal
Tiny Dancer
This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore
I’m Still Standing
Crocodile Rock
JOEL SET:
Prelude/Angry Young Man
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Allentown
The Downeaster Alexa
Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)
River of Dreams
Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
New York State of Mind
I Go to Extremes
It’s Still Rock ‘n’ Roll to Me
Only the Good Die Young
JOEL & JOHN:
My Life
The Bitch Is Back
You May be Right
Bennie and the Jets
A Hard Day’s Night
Great Balls of Fire
ENCORES:
Candle in the Wind
Piano Man
Aug. 4, 2015 (1 show)
Nassau Coliseum closer
Long Island said goodbye to the Old Barn Tuesday night, as Billy Joel played his 32nd — and final — show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Of course, the evening was more than just a celebration of the Hicksville native, playing his first solo show here in 17 years. It was a raucous, rowdy love-in tinged with sadness for the soon-to-be-renovated arena — as well as for its beloved Islanders, who are heading west to Brooklyn.
The Coliseum, which has hosted music royalty from Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash to the Grateful Dead in its 43-year life, will be prepped for a $261 million renovation starting Wednesday, with partial demolition set to begin at the end of the month.
“If they don’t name a road after me, that’s fine. I’d rather be alive.” — Billy Joel, talking to the crowd about a proposal to rename a quarter-mile stretch of Route 107 in Hicksville.
There are not enough words to describe [how great the show was]. – Joel Weisinger of Mount Sinai, who attended with wife Kathleen and son Corey
Billy being Billy. – Paul Caracciolo, on the highpoint of the concert.
By the numbers
- Minutes the show took to sell out 5
- Average ticket price $89.50
- Number of times Joel has played the Coliseum, including final show 32
- Estimated cost of Coliseum renovation $261 million
Long Islanders’ Billy Joel memories
I first saw Billy Joel in February 1972 in the city where he was third billing after Captain Beefheart. … My date gave me his Cold Spring Harbor album before it was even released. I attended concerts at CWP, Nassau Coliseum and MSG. I was at the last play at Shea and would love to go to the last one at Nassau. Will always love my Billy. — Lin Fritz Katz, via Facebook
I was hanging out at the Old Curiosity Shoppe having lunch before work, and Billy walks in and orders a beer, then orders two more for myself and the bartender. Well one turned to two… then three. I ended up calling in sick and had a great afternoon talking with him. — Kenneth Ponsiek, via Facebook
I lived in East Hampton in the ’80s and ’90s. When Alexa Ray was a little girl, I would from time to time see Billy coming out of the North Main Street IGA. He would go in to get those long strips of lollipops for Alexa. It always struck me as so sweet, seeing her so happy and Billy loving the moment. — Lisa Waygood, via Facebook
Review
Billy Joel’s final show at the original Nassau Coliseum was one for the ages, a three-hour marathon thrill-ride that touched on nearly every part of his career, as well as the arena’s 43-year history.
Joel craftily inserted the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” into his “River of Dreams,” and Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” into a roaring “You May Be Right” – nods to Paul McCartney, who played the Coliseum several times, as well as Zeppelin, who was one of the arena’s first big rock concerts. But the true skill came in the way the Hicksville native built the show specifically for a Long Island crowd – whether he was talking about fights he had in a Northport restaurant or his first gig at Holy Family Church in Hicksville or his decision to play “Captain Jack,” a song normally reserved for his Philadelphia concerts, because it enable Joel to sing about taking you to “your special island.”
The unpredictability of the setlist made it feel like an intimate club show where the performer knows pretty much everyone in the club rather than a massive arena concert. Only at the Coliseum would an early combination of the jazzy “Zanzibar” and the soaring “Summer, Highland Falls” make sense – a way for Joel to telegraph within the first five songs that this was going to be a unique evening.
This was a show by (mostly) Long Islanders for Long Islanders to celebrate the area — and, apparently, to get fans to cheer “Let’s go Islanders!” a lot.
Joel even called his special guest Paul Simon “a fellow Long Islander,” a distinction Long Islanders understand about the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer from Queens. Their connection was delightfully deep, born out of a long-term friendship rather than music collaboration, which Simon pointed out did not exist outside a jokey version of “Silver Bells” they did with Steve Martin for “Saturday Night Live” one year. It was tender during “Homeward Bound,” but truly came to life during “Late in the Evening,” where Joel had a great piano solo and his band, especially the horn secton of Mark Rivera, Carl Fischer and Crystal Taliefero, got to stretch and show off a bit.
After Simon and “King of Queens” star Kevin James made their appearances, Joel got the chance to relax a bit and show off some as well. He gave an emotional performance of “Goodnight Saigon,” punctuated by military personnel filling the stage to sing the chorus with him as the crowd chanted “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” He offered a nice bit of misdirection starting off “My Life” with a bit of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” And before leading the sing-along of “Piano Man,” Joel seemed to shake off a bit of nerves and kid around by playing a bit of Stephen Foster’s “Old Folks at Home.”
“Home” was a big topic Tuesday night. Yes, Joel gave the “Hard Day’s Night” line, “When I’m home, everything seems to be right” a little extra zing. But it went deeper than that. Throughout his career, Joel has chronicled his home – whether it’s the Brenda & Eddies he grew up with in Hicksville in “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” or the baymen of the East End in “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’.”
Joel could tell that the capacity crowd at the Coliseum Tuesday night was on edge. (All the booing for Gov. Andrew Cuomo was probably a good hint.) They were angry about losing the Islanders and the Coliseum, about losing part of their home.
Sure, the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum will be back in December 2016, after a $261 million renovation. There will be countless improvements – hopefully including an air conditioning system that doesn’t require sweating concertgoers to fan each other for relief like they did Tuesday night. It will, no doubt, be better, but it won’t be the same. It won’t be The Barn. It won’t be home.
Joel’s show offered concertgoers one more memory at The Barn. He offered them plenty of moments to hang on to — from his flouncy, hands-on-hips delivery of “Uptown Girl” to the surprising release of his inner Robert Plant during “Rock and Roll” matched nicely by guitarist Tommy Byrnes unleashing his inner Jimmy Page. Joel offered them consolation in a time of upsetting change. He left them feeling all right. — Glenn Gamboa, Newsday, Aug. 5, 2015
SET LIST
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Zanzibar
Summer, Highland Falls
Everybody Loves You Now
No Man’s Land
Just the Way You Are
The Entertainer
I Do/The Lion Sleeps Tonight/Still of the Night
The Longest Time
Downeaster Alexa
Me and Julio (with Paul Simon)
Homeward Bound (with Paul Simon)
Late in the Evening (with Paul Simon)
Ballad of Billy the Kid
New York State of Mind
Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
Until the Night
Allentown
Goodnight Saigon
Keeping the Faith
She’s Always a Woman
My Life
Captain Jack
I’ve Loved These Days
River of Dreams
Hard Days Night
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
Piano Man
ENCORES
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
Uptown Girl
Big Shot
You May Be Right
Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin cover)
Only the Good Die Young
April 5, 2017 (1 SHOW)
Nassau Coliseum Opener
After undergoing a $165-million renovation, the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum reopened on April 5, 2017, as the NYCB Live’s Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. And who better to take the stage first at the aluminum-finned venue with a hip, understated interior than the (piano) man who closed it 20 months earlier?
Billy Joel, who jokingly compared the new digs’ shiny new exterior to a “Jiffy Pop bag,” was joined onstage by a few surprise guests, including fellow Long Islanders Joan Jett and Kevin James. He also sang an LI-themed set that included gems like “No Man’s Land” and “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” which turned into a singalong.
The 2-hour, 50-minute show marked Joel’s 33rd sold-out concert at the Coliseum and, fittingly, he played 33 songs.
Review
Billy Joel ushered in the new, aluminum-finned era of the renovated Nassau Coliseum Wednesday night with a powerful set filled with Long Island references.
“We kind of have an attitude here,” Joel said, introducing the hard-rocking “No Man’s Land,” with lyrics written for Long Island that are still timely, right down to the cocaine bust news in the morning’s paper.
Joel’s concert was the first after the $165 million, 20-month renovation of the NYCB Live’s Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and he gave its sound high marks as he rolled through songs he rarely plays anywhere else — like “The Downeaster ‘Alexa,’ ” about the plight of Long Island’s baymen. For “Goodnight Saigon,” Joel filled the stage with military veterans, who were greeted with a huge ovation and chants of “U-S-A!”
“Lest we forget that this is the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum,” Joel said as the group left the
Even Joel’s surprise guests had Long Island roots. Long Beach’s Joan Jett was commanding on “I Hate Myself for Loving You” and “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Stony Brook’s Kevin James and his “King of Queens” “wife,” Leah Remini, did an interpretive dance to “She’s Got a Way,” ending with James’ passionate embrace of a hoagie.
When the singer paid tribute to the late Ray Charles with “What a Wonderful World,” Joel turned it into a gorgeous duet with Baldwin’s Carl Fischer delivering Louis Armstrong’s trumpet parts.
The two-hour, 50-minute show was remarkably well-planned. Joel played 33 songs to commemorate the 33 times he has now played The Coliseum, which was the first arena he ever played 40 years ago.
Throughout the show, Joel was in fine voice, taking more vocal chances than usual in songs like “New York State of Mind,” where he opted for a bluesier take. He was also in fine spirits, delivering his best Elvis Presley sneer during “It’s Still Rock ‘n’ Roll to Me” and a bit of a Bob Dylan impression to close out “Only the Good Die Young.”
It was clear early on that Joel was among his people when he offered them a choice. They could either hear “Just the Way You Are,” his Grammy-winning hit, or “Vienna,” the deeply personal ballad also from “The Stranger.” The crowd roared to hear “Vienna” and a smiling Joel began the song without pause.
This was a happier Joel show than the bittersweet one in 2015 that closed the first chapter of the Coliseum. There were jokes about paying too much for tickets, especially those in the back of the new arena, or as Joel referred to it, “Suffolk County.” But there was also plenty of hope and confidence in Mike DelGuidice’s poignant version of “Nessun Dorma.” And even more joy in the way “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” became a sing-along, as Long Islanders see themselves in Brenda and Eddie and build new memories at the new Nassau Coliseum like they did at the Parkway Diner.
Comments
SET LIST
1. Miami 2017
2. Pressure
3. All for Leyna
4. Vienna
5. The Entertainer
6. No Man’s Land
7. Goodnight Saigon
8. Everybody Loves You Now
9. The Downeaster Alexa
10. Zanzibar
11. New York State of Mind
12. Movin’ Out
13. She’s Got a Way
14. Allentown
15. My Life
16. Sleeping With the Television
17. She’s Always a Woman
18. I Hate Myself for Loving You (with Joan Jett)
19. I Love Rock ‘N Roll (with Joan Jett)
20. Sometimes a Fantasy
21. What a Wonderful World
22. The River of Dreams
23. Nessun Dorma
24. Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
25. Piano Man
Encore
1. We Didn’t Start the Fire
2. Uptown Girl
3. It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me
4. Big Shot
5. Only the Good Die Young
6. You May Be Right
Billy Joel: His music, life on Long Island and more
Photos
Through the years
Take a look through Joel's well-documented decades, from early performances on through his current residency at Madison Square Garden.
Newsday
Quiz
What’s your Joel IQ?
From his first song for daughter Alexa to the setlist for the Last Play at Shea, test your Joel knowledge.
Bruce Gilbert
Photos
July anniversaries
July 1, 2015, sees Joel breaking the record for most consecutive shows at MSG, but the month holds many other notable dates.
AP
The music
Photos
Top 14 songs
Newsday music critic Glenn Gamboa ranks the Hicksville native's best songs.
Getty Images / Michael Ochs
Photos
Your MSG photos
Concertgoers' pictures from Joel's residency at Madison Square Garden.
tysonk via Instagram
Photos
The albums
Joel's catalog of studio albums is so deep that he continues to pull out new versions of songs to keep his set fresh.
Sony Music
Video
Live at the Paramount
Joel played an intimate show at the Paramount Theater in Huntington on Oct. 16, 2013.
Chris Ware
Photos
Musicians inspired by Joel
Countless musicians, from Rufus Wainwright to Ben Folds, have taken inspiration from Joel.
AP / Keith Shimada
His Long Island
Map
Joel's Long Island
Take a tour of his motorcycle shop, LI homes and more.
Bruce Gilbert
Photos
13 ways he’s SO Long Island
With more than 500,000 votes, LIers crowned Joel as the most Long Island person, place or thing.
Newsday / John Cornell
Article
His philanthropy
Joel generally goes about things quietly, though his actions still generate widespread impact.
Newsday / John Paraskevas
Accolades & milestones
Article
Kennedy Center Honors
Musicians from the worlds of jazz, country, emo and rock paid tribute to Joel at the 36th annual Kennedy Center Honors on Dec. 8, 2013.
Getty Images
Article
Joel: 'Why me?'
“It's like an abundance of good fortune,” Joel said about being a Kennedy Center Honor recipient.
AP / Manuel Balce Ceneta
Excerpt
''The Definitive Biography''
Read an excerpt, from the 2014 biography, that revisits a career highlight: the Last Play at Shea.
Crown Archetype
Photos
Newsday covers
Joel has graced the cover of Newsday many times, whether the topic was his music, boat, motorcycle shop or personal life.
Newsday
Video
ASCAP Centennial Award
Along with Sting, Joan Baez, Stevie Wonder and more, Joel received an American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers award on Nov. 17, 2014.
Rogers & Cowan
Article
Gershwin Prize honor
''George Gershwin was always a hero of mine,'' Joel said as he accepted the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song on Nov. 20, 2014.
AP / Carolyn Kaster
Photos
Gershwin Prize concert
A lineup of musical heavy-hitters saw Tony Bennett, LeAnn Rimes, John Mellencamp and many more paying tribute to Joel and his music.
AP / Carolyn Kaster
Your summer concert photos
Headed to a show at the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater this summer, or catching one of the last concerts at the Nassau Coliseum?
Or maybe you’re heading to see Billy Joel at MSG, or an outdoor festival on Governors Island or in Prospect Park.
Share your concert pictures on Instagram using #LIconcerts or #NYCconcerts, and you could see them featured here alongside other great reader snaps.
[nd_photogrid title2=”Your summer concert photos” pgURL=”https://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/long-island-summer-concerts-2015-1.10475211″ promo2=”<i class="fa fa-instagram"></i><em>TAG US and JOIN IN</em><strong href="#">#LIconcerts</strong>” pre_author=”<i class="fa fa-instagram"></i>”]50 greatest Long Island entertainment moments
1973
Cinema Arts Centre
Former Manhattanites Vic Skolnick and Charlotte Sky, determined to give locals an art-house movie experience, rent an old dance studio in Huntington and begin projecting films onto a bedsheet. What was then called the New Community Cinema eventually became the Cinema Arts Centre, one of the oldest and longest-running repertory cinemas in the country.
Cinema Arts Centre
2013
'The Wolf of Wall Street'
“The Wolf of Wall Street” dramatizes the story of Long Island-based financial con man Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Director Martin Scorsese shot several scenes locally, including a beach party in Sands Point and an outdoor wedding in Bayville.
TNS
1980
Long Island Cares
In response to the needs of hungry Long Islanders, singer-songwriter Harry Chapin founds the Long Island Cares charity, which continues today, to address both short-term and long-term causes of hunger in the area.
Bill Senft
2014
'Noah'
Darren Aronofsky’s big-budget Biblical epic starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson arrives in theaters. One of the film’s biggest stars, the ark, was built in Oyster Bay.
Paramount Pictures / Niko Tavernise
2009
'Royal Pains'
USA's comedy series about a surgeon catering to the Hamptons elite premieres in June and becomes TV's only primetime series shot entirely on LI. Showtime's The Affair, which premiered in October 2014, is now the only other.
1995
'The Brothers McMullen'
The family drama, filmed on location in Valley Stream by a native, Ed Burns, becomes one of the biggest success stories of its era. Shot on 16mm film with a micro-budget of $28,000, the movie went on to gross more than $10 million and helped launch an ongoing wave of independent filmmaking.
1985
Eric B. & Rakim
When Eric B. lands a job as a DJ on WBLS, he decides he needs a rapper, and places an ad that Wyandanch native Rakim answers. The partnership quickly leads to hits including Eric B. Is President and the landmark Paid in Full album.
Island Records
1967
Vanilla Fudge
While working with producer George Shadow Morton in Hempstead, Vanilla Fudge band members listen to the Supremes’ 45 rpm single, You Keep Me Hanging On, at 33 1/3 rpm, and learn to play the song that way, helping give birth to the prog rock movement.
Patty Stein
1984
Twisted Sister
The band receives gold records onstage at Nassau Coliseum to celebrate 500,000 sales of the album. But they didn’t get the usual wall-mountable plaques. Mark Metcalf, star of the band’s We’re Not Gonna Take It video, instead places the records around their necks as if they had won Olympic gold medals.
AP / Corey Struller
1993
Amy Fisher
Two TV movies based on Long Island Lolita Amy Fisher air the same night, Jan. 3, 1993: The Amy Fisher Story, starring Drew Barrymore, and Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story, with Alyssa Milano.
L.I. News Daily/Dick Yarwood
1977
'Annie Hall'
Though specifics are hard to pin down, one of this movie’s most memorable scenes -- in which Woody Allen and Diane Keaton go to the Hamptons and attempt to boil some uncooperative lobsters -- was filmed on the South Shore. It’s proof that even before his European phase, Allen was willing to venture at least a little ways outside of Manhattan.
United Artists
2011
'Long Island Medium'
The reality series starring spirit-channeling Theresa Caputo, of Hicksville, launches in September and quickly becomes the most popular show in TV history with Long Island in the title.
TLC
1970
'Love Story'
The three-hanky romance, starring Ryan O’Neal as wealthy Harvard student Oliver Barrett IV and Ali McGraw as a working-class Radcliffe girl, is released in December. At the time, it was the sixth highest-grossing film of all time. The Phipps estate plays the role of the Barrett family manse.
Paramount Pictures
1996
'Everybody Loves Raymond'
The popular CBS sitcom, about (fictional) Newsday sportswriter Ray Romano and his funny, dysfunctional family, premieres in September and runs nine seasons.
CBS
2002
Ashanti Douglas Day
The Princess of Hip-Hop and R&B was actually the reigning queen with the No. 1 album in the country and a record-setting three simultaneous Top 10 singles when she was awarded the key to her hometown of Glen Cove and her own day to rule Nassau County.
Nelson Ching
2013
'Princesses: Long Island'
The reality show about six young, privileged Long Island women angers many LIers (specifically, some Freeport residents and the family of fallen FDNY firefighter Jonathan Ielpi). The show is canceled after one season.
Bravo
1990
'Reversal of Fortune'
Reversal of Fortune becomes a career milestone for Jeremy Irons, who will win a best actor Oscar for playing Claus von Bulow, a chilly aristocrat accused of trying to kill his wife (Glenn Close). Some interior scenes of the Von Bulow mansion were filmed in Knole House in Old Westbury.
AP
2004
LIer wins 'Survivor'
Sayville's Tom Westman, a now-retired FDNY fireman, wins Survivor: Palau and becomes one of the most popular winners in the franchise's history. Later, he competes on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains in 2010.
CBS / Bill Inoshita
2000
'Pollock'
Starring Ed Harris as the action painter Jackson Pollock, the biopic becomes a critical hit. Marcia Gay Harden, as Pollock’s wife, later wins a supporting actress Oscar. Much of the movie was filmed at Pollock's real studio, known as the Pollock-Krasner House, in East Hampton.
BPI
2006
LIer on 'Idol'
Kevin Covais of Levittown finishes in 11th place on American Idol Season 5, at the height of the show’s popularity. The 16-year-old, nicknamed Chicken Little -- with a good sense of humor to match his good voice -- jokingly referred to himself as the sex symbol of the season.
1994
'Seinfeld' in The Hamptons
The gang goes to The Hamptons in a season 5 episode in which George (Jason Alexander) suffers from shrinkage -- to the amusement of Jerry's girlfriend, Rachel (Melanie Smith).
NBC
1998
Billy Joel sells out the Coliseum
Touring to support his Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 collection, Joel breaks his own record of six sold-out shows at the arena by selling out nine shows in 1998, which lands him in the Nassau Coliseum Hall of Fame.
J. Michael Dombroski
2007
Alicia Keys records in Glen Cove
Her Grammy-winning album, featuring the No. 1 hit No One, was recorded mainly at Keys’ Oven Studios in Glen Cove, which she was able to open after the success of her previous two albums.
1993
Hamptons International Film Festival
HIFF launches its first edition with the opening-night film “A Home of Our Own,” starring Kathy Bates as a single mother. Among the festival’s first honorary board members were Roy Scheider, Alan Alda, George Plimpton and Alec Baldwin. The festival’s special advisor was Steven Spielberg.
SocietyAllure.com / Rob Rich
2000
Nine Days tops charts
The story of Absolutely (Story of a Girl) hitting No. 1 on the pop charts is one of triumph for the Deer Park band, led by John Hampson, bringing Long Island rock fans their first chart-topper since Billy Joel.
1973
Grateful Dead at the Coliseum
It was the start of The Dead’s hold on the arena, which they've sold out a record-setting 35 times over the years, spawning several special shows, including the recently released box set Wake Up to Find Out, which captures the band’s March 29, 1990, show there with Branford Marsalis.
John Keating
1987
De La Soul forms in Amityville
Before they were Posdnuos, Maseo and Dave, pioneers of the Native Tongues style of lighthearted hip-hop with the legendary 3 Feet High and Rising album, they were Amityville High School students who played talent shows and impromptu parties in Amityville.
1988
Debbie Gibson writes 'Foolish Beat'
When the ballad hits No. 1, it makes Gibson, 18, the youngest artist ever to write, perform and produce a chart-topping single, a record she still holds today in the Guinness Book of World Records. Gibson wrote the song in her hometown of Merrick.
Joe Dombroski
1965
The Young Rascals at The Barge
As the house band at the floating nightclub in Westhampton, The Young Rascals spend the summer mixing their brand of R&B-influenced rock with the sounds of the British Invasion. They were discovered there by Beatles’ promoter Sid Bernstein.
1964
John Coltrane composes in Dix Hills
The legendary saxophonist composed his masterwork, A Love Supreme, in his Dix Hills home, building it around four notes representing the four syllables of a love supreme as a mantra to create one of jazz’s most important albums.
AP
1954
'Sabrina'
Billy Wilder’s romantic comedy, starring Audrey Hepburn as a chauffeur’s daughter who comes between the wealthy Larrabee brothers (Humphrey Bogart and William Holden), unfolds against the backdrop of Glen Cove. The Larrabee mansion was actually in Beverly Hills, but the Glen Cove train station makes a notable appearance.
Paramount Pictures
2013
Billy Joel at The Paramount
Joel, using the Huntington club as a rehearsal space for an upcoming tour, decides to play a show there, his first Long Island concert in 11 years. It sells out within 15 minutes, even with only two hours’ notice.
Erin Geismar
1959
'North by Northwest'
Alfred Hitchcock's landmark thriller stars Cary Grant as Roger O. Thornhill, an advertising executive caught in a web of espionage. The plot thickens when he’s kidnapped and taken to a Glen Cove mansion, where he is interrogated and nearly killed. The mansion was actually the Phipps estate, now known as Old Westbury Gardens.
CBS
1954
Guy Lombardo at Jones Beach
The bandleader creates a new musical, Arabian Nights, about the tales of Scheherazade to introduce musical performances to the theater at Jones Beach.
AP
1975
Peter Frampton records at LI Arena
Frampton’s breakthrough hit, Show Me the Way, is recorded at his Commack show, and not only makes live albums cool again, but also introduces much of the world to the vocoder.
1958
'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'
Elizabeth Taylor, as Maggie Pollitt, steams up the screen in one of her most iconic films. Though set in muggy Mississippi, the film was shot partially at the Coleman Estate in Muttontown.
MGM
1926
'The Great Gatsby'
F. Scott Fitzgerald's enduring novel set on the North Shore becomes a movie for the first time. A Paramount Pictures production starring Warner Baxter as Jay Gatsby and Lois Wilson as Daisy Buchanan, it has since been lost, though three more adaptations would follow, in 1949, 1974 and 2013.
1982
Public Enemy forms
When Chuck D. lands a show (The Super Spectrum Mix Hour) at WBAU, Adelphi University’s radio station, the core group begins to work together: Chuck raps, Hank Shocklee mixes records live on the air, Flavor Flav is, you know, Flav.
Getty Images
2006
Taking Back Sunday headlines the Coliseum
The Rockville Centre-based band has plenty to celebrate with its Nassau Coliseum show: its “Louder Now” album going gold and its graduation to arena headliner status. But it's a shared triumph with its Long Island faithful, who jump the barricades before the show starts, to create the biggest mosh pit in the arena’s history.
2000
'SNL' parodies Blue Öyster Cult
Singer Eric Bloom says he was shocked when he saw the Will Ferrell/Christopher Walken sketch about how the band’s recording session for its 1976 hit (Don’t Fear) The Reaper should have gone. But they have embraced it now, as have fans who still bring cowbells to the band’s shows to play along with the song.
2013
'Masters of Sex'
The Showtime series, based on Newsday writer Thomas Maier’s non-fiction book about sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson, premieres in September and quickly earns Golden Globe and Emmy nominations. Some scenes were shot at a Lloyd Harbor home.
AP / Showtime
1979
The Stray Cats
United by a love of rockabilly and a keen ‘50s fashion sense, Brian Setzer decides to team up with Massapequa grade-school friends Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom to make music.
Gavin Cochrane
1972
'The Godfather'
Starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and James Caan as members of the Corleone Mafia dynasty, The Godfather creates some of the most indelible images in American cinema. One, involving a decapitated horse head, was filmed in Falaise, a 26-room manor house in Port Washington's Sands Point Preserve; another, in which Caan dies in a fusillade of bullets, was filmed on an unused runway at what was then Mitchel Field in Hempstead.
1973
Lou Reed hits the Top 20
Freeport native Reed tells many tales of arriving in the big city in his Top 20 hit Walk on the Wild Side, including Massapequa Park actress Candy Darling’s, and, in some ways, his own.
AP / Mark Goff
2013
One Direction gives Wheatus a shout-out
It’s always been weird that the Northport-based Wheatus was way bigger in England than it was at home. It got even stranger when 1D started covering Wheatus’ British smash Teenage Dirtbag in its set. But even Wheatus frontman Brendan Brown thought it was surreal when the lads paid tribute to his band when they come to Jones Beach.
Sony
1982
LL Cool J gets his name
James Todd Smith is at his mom’s house in Bay Shore when the 14-year-old budding rapper gets the idea to call himself Cool J, which a friend convinced him to change to LL Cool J, with the LL standing for Ladies Love.
2000
LIer wins first 'Big Brother'
Commack's Eddie McGee becomes the show's very first winner, and is the first of many LIers to compete on (and win) popular reality TV shows.
AP/ Kevork Djansezian
1993
'Shoop'
Salt had just moved to Melville when she, Pepa and Spinderella start work on their Very Necessary album, with the new surroundings spawning a new sense of creativity and a desire to shoop shoop shoop.
AP / Malcolm Clarke
1916
Vitagraph Studios
Vitagraph, one of the most prolific studios of the silent era, produces 26 films out of its facilities at 94 Fourth Avenue in Bay Shore.
Library of Congress; Erin Geismar
1982
'It's Raining Men'
Baldwin native Martha Wash and her fellow Weather Girl, Izora Armstead, thought it was a joke when Paul Shaffer, who co-wrote the song with Paul Jabara, asked them to sing what has become a disco anthem. But they do it anyway. Hallelujah!
TheWeatherGirlsVEVO via YouTube