The beloved Long Island arena Nassau Coliseum closed down in 2015, with the promise of new ownership and major renovations. Well, that promise has been fulfilled, as the Coliseum has now announced it’s first post-renovation concert, a sure-to-be awesome evening with hometown hero Billy Joel on April 5th. Joel actually played the venue’s final show when it closed last year, bringing along Paul Simon, Kevin James, and Governor Andrew Cuomo for surprise appearances in front of an excited but emotional audience.

Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, which runs the highly successful Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, will lead the charge on the venue’s grand re-opening. CEO Brett Yormark promised to take a similar approach with the new Nassau Coliseum, saying “[t]he first couple of months we really want people to sample all the different types of programming that will take place — whether it’s world-class concerts, obviously, boxing, MMA, family shows and the like. We’re really going to showcase the diversification of our programming mix and give people a lot to think about. That was pretty much how we opened Barclays Center, and we’re going to do the same out there.”

The new-and-improved Nassau Coliseum will seat 14,500 for concerts, 13,500 for basketball games and 13,000 for hockey games. Interestingly enough, the venue is will be versatile in its ability to host events of all sizes, with different configurations ranging from 4,000 to 16,000 people, depending on the event. Another intriguing piece of information is the Coliseum’s new “All Access Pass” membership program, which provides subscribers with lower-level seats to every event at the venue, along with a VIP entrance and a private club in the arena.

Tickets to Billy Joel’s show on April 5th can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com Friday, October 14th, with a pre-sale for American Express holders starting on Thursday the 13th.

In honor of the venue’s reopening, check out a few clips from a few of the many classic concerts that took place at the old Nassau Coliseum. Included below are full sets from Pink Floyd, David Bowie, and the Grateful Dead, with some Billy Joel and Phish thrown in there for good measure. Welcome back Nassau Coliseum!

[Story via Newsday // Photo via Billboard.com]