Well over a year after announcing he had the brain disorder normal pressure hydrocephalus and was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the road, Billy Joel has given an detailed update on his recovery, and explained why he has yet to book any concerts.
“The doctors told me because of my job, which is playing rock and roll music very loud, that it was giving me something like a concussion every time I did a show,” he said in a new interview with SiriusXM’s Billy Joel Channel. “It was causing damage to my brain nerves and I could be losing more brain cells the more shows I did and I realized that means I shouldn’t be doing this right now. I got to improve. They don’t want me to stress too much.”
Joel last played a full show February 22, 2025, at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Near the very end of the set, he fell down while performing “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me.” He played it off as a joke, but it was actually a result of NPH. Three months later, he went public with the diagnosis, and canceled all of his shows.
“This condition has been exacerbated by recent concert performances, leading to problems with hearing, vision, and balance,” reads a statement from Joel’s team. “Under his doctor’s instructions, Billy is undergoing specific physical therapy and has been advised to refrain from performing during this recovery period.”
In the new interview with SiriusXM, Joel said that he initially declined to have a shunt surgically implanted into his skull to remove the excess fluid, feeling it was too extreme a measure. “But then I read up on it and I realized it can help improve your balance and can help your memory,” he said. “You know, I don’t want to lose my marbles. It’s hard to tell what’s age and what’s a condition, so I agreed to do the shunt and I had a surgery, and they implanted a shunt in my brain and it actually improved things. My memory got better, my balance got a little better, my ability to function was better.”
His sole live performance since going public with his diagnosis took place January 2 when he made the impromptu decision to get onstage with the Billy Joel tribute band Turnstiles at a show in Wellington, Florida. He joined them on “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and “Big Shot.”
Two months later, he sat in the audience at a Carnegie Hall tribute show in his honor and watched artists like Rob Thomas, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Rufus Wainwright perform his music, backed by his longtime touring band. But he didn’t venture onto the stage himself.
At this point, it’s unclear if he’ll ever feel capable of playing concerts. But he doesn’t want his fans to worry. “I know people have heard, ‘Oh, he’s got a brain disorder,’ and I’m okay,” he said on SiriusXM. “I just want people to know, don’t worry about me. I’m not going anywhere. I’m here. I’m still here.”
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