Billy Joel Closing Out Nassau Coliseum Before Major Renovations

Photo by Larry Marano/Getty Images

by Ryan Reed

Billy Joel will give the legendary Nassau Coliseum its temporary curtain call on August 4th, playing the final concert at the Uniondale, New York arena, according to the singer-songwriter’s website. The event will mark the Long Island resident’s 32nd appearance at the venue, which opened in 1972 and has served as the home base for numerous professional sports teams (including, currently, the NHL’s New York Islanders).

Tickets  – ranging from $49.50 to $119.50 – go on sale Friday, May 1st through Ticketmaster, and American Express cardholders can purchase limited quantities of pre-sale tickets starting Monday, April 27th at 10 a.m. Following Joel’s concert, the venue will close for extensive renovations, with plans to reopen the building in December 2016. According to Newsday, Nassau Events Center will spend $260 million on the project, which will downsize the arena to 13,000 seats and construct additional facilities. 

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Joel, a Hicksville, Long Island native, hasn’t played a solo show at the Coliseum since 1998, when he set the building’s sell-out record with nine in one year. The venue honored this achievement with a banner that still hangs in the rafters. Joel’s 1982 Coliseum show was filmed for the 1983 HBO concert special Billy Joel: Live From Long Island. Other notable music performances at the arena include Frank Zappa’s final American concert in 1988 and a 1981 Genesis performance recorded for the Three Sides Live LP.

The Nassau date isn’t Joel’s only major concert event of the summer. In June, he’ll travel to Manchester, Tennessee to headline the 13th installment of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival – which also includes Mumford and Sons, Deadmau5, Kendrick Lamar, Florence and the Machine, My Morning Jacket and Robert Plant with the Sensational Space Shifters.

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