It’s New Year, a time for fresh starts and getting back to work. How appropriate (and encouraging), then, that the second day of 2026 saw one much-loved singer-songwriter return to performance after a brain disorder diagnosis threatened to end his live career.
The artist in question is Billy Joel, who turned up at a gig last Friday (2 January) in Wellington, Florida that was headlined by Turnstiles, a Billy Joel tribute act.
Turnstiles had teased earlier that day that there “might be special guests” during their set, and lo and behold, halfway through the 76-year-old singer-songwriter clambered on stage, sat down at the piano and proceeded to bang out We Didn’t Start The Fire and Big Shot, whilst his two daughters danced on stage beside him.
“I wasn’t planning on working tonight,” Joel quipped as he sat down. “What are we doing? A Billy Joel song?”
He then set himself the challenge of performing We Didn’t Start The Fire, and managed to remember a good 90% of the litany of postwar events that comprise that song’s lyrics. Not bad for a man recovering from a serious brain disorder.
Joel revealed last year that he had been diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH).
NPH occurs when cerebrospinal fluid builds up in the skull and puts pressure on the brain. This can affect thinking, memory, balance and movement, and is often treated with a surgically implanted shunt to drain excess fluid.
The singer immediately cancelled all live dates, including shows at Murrayfield in Edinburgh and Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium that had been lined up for this year. It looked like Joel had reached the end of the road. But after Friday’s unexpected performance, fans’ hopes will be raised that he could yet make a full return to the stage.
Last summer Joel guested on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast and talking about his condition, said that it was “not fixed, it’s still being worked on.”
“I feel fine,” he told Maher. “My balance sucks. It’s like being on a boat. They keep on referring to what I have as a ‘brain disorder’ so it sounds a lot worse than what I’m feeling.”
