#Billy Joel shocks onlookers by playing discarded piano on Long Island sidewalk

Billy Joel himself gave a group of onlookers the show of a lifetime when he began playing a ragtime tune on a piano kicked to the curb in Huntington, Long Island, Newsday reports.

Cellphone video sneakily taken of Joel shows the 71-year-old, five-time Grammy winner casually performing a complicated song — identified by fans as Shelton Brooks’ 1917 ragtime roll “Darktown Strutters’ Ball” — in a helmet with a backpack last month.

“Not bad!” the music titan and writer of “Uptown Girl” exclaimed in the viral clip posted June 26 on YouTube. “The action is good. It just needs tuning.”

Joel then insisted that the discarded instrument is “a perfectly good piano,” and, “It’s a shame to throw it out.”

Distraught to see the piano so heartlessly thrown away, Joel added that it “should at least be donated to St. Vincent de Paul or something” to his impromptu audience.

Someone suggests a thrift store nearby and he agreed that, “They’d probably take it.”

He then tests the ivories a little more.

“These are laminated keys, the pedals work, the action is great,” Joel said. “The mechanics are perfect.’

The Bronx native was riding his motorcycle when he spotted the large wooden instrument sitting on the sidewalk.

Joel’s rep later confirmed to People that the clip was indeed of the beloved singer-songwriter.

The spontaneous performance marks Joel’s first live appearance since the pandemic hit and since two of his scheduled concerts at Madison Square Garden on March 19 and April 10 were postponed.

The musical maverick has expressed his staunch support of Governor Cuomo throughout the pandemic, posting a special note on his website stating that he and his wife Alexis, “are so proud of Governor Cuomo, he is family to us. He is the godfather of our daughters, Della and Remy, and we chose him knowing what a strong and steady presence he would be in their lives.”