Billy Joel jokes about his voice and inability to sell Centre Island home at UBS New Year's Eve show

Billy Joel rang in the new year with a 2½-hour sold-out show at UBS Arena in Elmont, playing both a string of his hits and a wide range of cover songs — and offering jokes about his voice and how he can’t seem to sell his Centre Island home.

Five songs in, as captured in an audience member’s video, the 74-year-old Joel tells the audience that, “In 1983 I was in my early 30s, going into my mid-30s, and I was starting to say goodbye to a lot of high notes.” Saying he never imagined he “would be doing those high notes like on this next song at this age,” Joel adds jocularly, “I just didn't think it through. So there’s a couple of high notes. Before I try to hit them, I’m always, like, pointing out I’m not gonna hit 'em. … And if I don’t hit ‘em, you’re gonna be, like, [mimicking critical fans] ‘He’s old! He can’t hit the high notes no more!’ ” Nonplussed, he launches into “An Innocent Man.”

At another point, according to multiple outlets including USA Today and Fox Business News, the Hicksville-raised Rock & Roll Hall of Famer alluded to a slow market for his Centre Island estate, Middlesea. He had listed the 26-acre property overlooking Oyster Bay Harbor for $49 million in May, and took it off the market around October, with his broker citing renovation work and saying it would return for sale.

“Just because I’m selling that house, doesn’t mean I’m leaving Long Island,” Joel told the New Year’s Eve crowd, joking that “nobody” would meet its listed price. “I’m just gonna spend a little more time in Florida like old Jewish guys from Long Island do.” Joel’s holdings include a home in Sag Harbor as well as an oceanfront mansion in Manalapan, Florida, just south of Palm Beach, that he has on the market for $64.9 million.

Joel also gave a shoutout to a friend, legendary songwriter and Bayville resident Jimmy Webb, performing an instrumental excerpt from one of Webb’s biggest hits, Glen Campbell’s poignant “Wichita Lineman,” according to the Ottawa, Illinois, radio station WCMY-AM.

The night’s set list, posted by Joel’s official online merchandise shop, shows 22 of his songs, as well as covers of The Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up,” Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” and Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep — Mountain High,” as well as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” popularized by The Tokens, and a few bars of “Barbara Ann,” popularized by The Beach Boys. Additionally, Joel’s singer-guitarist Michael DelGuidice, formerly of Miller Place, performed his usual Puccini aria, “Nessun Dorma,” and the band sang the traditional “Auld Lang Syne” after a New Year’s countdown.

The concert — Joel’s first on Long Island since his New Year’s Eve 2018 show at NYCB Live’s Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale — opened with “My Life” and ended with “Piano Man” before an encore that included “We Didn't Start the Fire” and “Uptown Girl.” The show ended around 1 a.m. with opening act Regina Spektor joining the band on “You May Be Right.”

Joel returns to his unprecedented Madison Square Garden monthly residency on Jan. 11, as he continues toward his final show in the series in July.