Paul Simon laments Islanders' departure from Nassau Coliseum
Singer Billy Joel closed down the current, beloved incarnation of Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum with an epic three-hour concert on Tuesday night that celebrated the building and the hockey team that used to call it home.
“This was a show by [mostly] Long Islanders for Long Islanders to celebrate the area—and, apparently, to get fans to cheer ‘Let's go Islanders!’ a lot,” Newsday reported.
Joel brought several friends to join him on stage for the event, including Paul Simon who reacted to one of the spontaneous outbreaks of chanting by empathizing with the community’s pain.
“The idea of the Islanders leaving Uniondale to go to Brooklyn is as sad as the idea of the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn to go to San Francisco.”
Dodgers? San Francisco?
Forget it. He was rolling. And the sentiment, though geographically inaccurate, was nicely on point.
Check it out.