At Concert, the Island Wonders, Can Piano Man Say Goodbye?
HE is probably America’s quintessential suburban singer/performer. He is certainly Long Island’s. Billy Joel, born and raised on the Island, a product of ”running around time” on the Island, and now a spokesman for the beleaguered baymen of the Island from his home in Amagansett, began an East Coast tour recently from, where else, the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale. For Mr. Joel, who has indicated that he will be turning his musical attention to classical compositions and the repertory for which he was trained at the Juilliard School of Music, the nine local concerts, which concentrated on his hits, were a kind of valedictory. The mostly local audience loved it, singing along, dancing and swaying and lighting candles in a rock-concert sign of solidarity. Mr. Joel was in command, playing piano and singing from his seat, standing up and playing keyboard at three places, picking up a small accordion and even strumming a guitar as he reprised ”Just the Way You Are,” ”P
