{"id":72400,"date":"2026-09-09T20:33:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T20:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/09\/billy-joel-says-brain-disorder-gave-him-concussions-at-every-show\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T20:33:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T20:33:28","slug":"billy-joel-says-brain-disorder-gave-him-concussions-at-every-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/09\/billy-joel-says-brain-disorder-gave-him-concussions-at-every-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Joel Says Brain Disorder Gave Him Concussions at Every Show"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tWell over a year after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/billy-joel-cancels-tour-normal-pressure-hydrocephalus-1235346714\/\">announcing he had the brain disorder normal pressure hydrocephalus<\/a> and was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the road, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/billy-joel\/\" id=\"auto-tag_billy-joel\" data-tag=\"billy-joel\">Billy Joel<\/a> has given an detailed update on his recovery, and explained why he has yet to book any concerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cThe 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,\u201d he said in a new interview with SiriusXM\u2019s Billy Joel Channel. \u201cIt 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\u2019t be doing this right now. I got to improve. They don\u2019t want me to stress too much.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"BILLY JOEL - Uptown Girl \/ It&amp;apos;s Still Rock and Roll to Me @ Mohegan Sun Arena 2-22-25\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UMrIF6RTOW8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tJoel 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 \u201cIt\u2019s Still Rock and Roll to Me.\u201d 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. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cThis condition has been exacerbated by recent concert performances, leading to problems with hearing, vision, and balance,\u201d reads a statement from Joel\u2019s team. \u201cUnder his doctor\u2019s instructions, Billy is undergoing specific physical therapy and has been advised to refrain from performing during this recovery period.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tIn 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. \u201cBut then I read up on it and I realized it can help improve your balance and can help your memory,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, I don\u2019t want to lose my marbles. It\u2019s hard to tell what\u2019s age and what\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Turnstiles + Billy Joel : &quot;We Didn&amp;apos;t Start The Fire,&quot; Jan. 2, 2026, Wellington. Florida\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zNtX5Fyu4R4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tHis 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 \u201cWe Didn\u2019t Start the Fire\u201d and \u201cBig Shot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ recirculation-modules trending-in-article lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tTwo 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\u2019t venture onto the stage himself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAt this point, it\u2019s unclear if he\u2019ll ever feel capable of playing concerts. But he doesn\u2019t want his fans to worry. \u201cI know people have heard, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s got a brain disorder,\u2019 and I\u2019m okay,\u201d he said on SiriusXM. \u201cI just want people to know, don\u2019t worry about me. I\u2019m not going anywhere. I\u2019m here. I\u2019m still here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/billy-joel-concerts-damage-brain-nerves-1235623880\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well over a year after announcing he had the brain disorder normal pressure hydrocephalus and was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":72401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}