Billy Joel cancels global tour dates over brain condition

PIANO MAN IS TAKING A BREAK: In this file photo, singer Billy Joel announces the end of his residency at Madison Square Garden in 2024 during a press conference on June 1, 2023, in New York. Joel is canceling a series of global tour dates after being diagnosed with a brain condition that worsened because of recent performances, his staff said on May 23, 2025. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)

NEW YORK — Pop great Billy Joel is canceling a series of global tour dates after being diagnosed with a brain condition that worsened because of recent performances, his staff said Friday.

“Billy Joel has announced that he will be canceling all scheduled concerts following a recent diagnosis of Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH),” the Piano Man’s team wrote on his website.

The Alzheimer’s Association says that NPH “is a brain disorder in which excess cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the brain’s ventricles.”

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The dates include several in Britain, as well as a packed schedule crisscrossing the United States from July 2025 up until July 2026 when he was due to round off his ambitious string of dates in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Joel’s team added that “this condition has been exacerbated by recent concert performances, leading to problems with hearing, vision, and balance.”

The “We Didn’t Start the Fire” legend wrote “I’m sincerely sorry to disappoint our audience, and thank you for understanding.”