Long Island music legend Billy Joel has been booked to perform the final concert at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum before the arena closes for renovations this summer, promoters announced Friday.
Tickets for the Aug. 4 show will be on pre-sale starting at 10 a.m. April 27 for American Express card members and will be open to the general public at the same time on May 1, according to Ticketmaster. Ticket prices will range from $49.50 to $119.50.
“Who else but Billy Joel could play the final show at Nassau Coliseum?” said Brett Yormark, chief executive officer of the Barclays Center, who will oversee the Forest City Ratner Company’s subsidiary, Nassau Events Center, which is taking over the venue.
Yorkmark had alluded to The Piano Man’s performance two years ago while touting the types of events planned for the arena after it undergoes a $260-million facelift. During a press conference at center ice under a banner bearing Joel’s name that hangs form the rafters, he promised “a historic closing and opening by a world-class artist perfectly suited for the occasion like what Jay Z’s opening eight shows did for Barclays Center.”
It has not been announced if Joel will perform the coliseum’s reopening as well. The 65-year-old Centre Island resident, who grew up in Hicksville, will play the coliseum between his monthly residency performances at Madison Square Garden, whose owners lost a bid to renovate the Uniondale arena. He has played 31 shows at the coliseum, with the last performance being a nine-show run in 1998.
The announcement comes as the coliseum’s anchor tenant, the New York Islanders, near their last games in the only arena they have ever called home before they move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn next season.
After the final concert, the arena coliseum is scheduled to reopen in December 2016.
Tickets for the Joel show can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.
