Music icon Billy Joel—who grew up in Hicksville and sang of Cold Spring Harbor and Long Island “baymen,” among other local hallmarks–once gave an interview to Playboy Magazine in the Spring of 1982 where he touched upon the dangers of motorcycle driving.
And much like Billy Joel refused to let his brush with death shortly thereafter deter him from riding for the next several decades, whenever he intimates he’s out, we know that’s just another chess move in a board designed by his one-of-a-kind creatively ingenious mind.
Deadline reported this week the Long Island native “Piano Man’s” highly anticipated two-part documentary “Billy Joel: So It Goes” will open the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.
The debut screening is set for Beacon Theatre on the 4th. The festival itself runs through June 15. Additional programming has yet to be announced.
“There is no better place for this film to premiere than at the Beacon Theatre,” the producers said, noting Joel’s affinity for the city.
Tribeca co-founder Jane Rosenthal made the breaking announcement in Las Vegas on Sunday, mere weeks after HBO announced the Joel doc’s inclusion in its summer slate.
“For nearly 25 years, the Tribeca Festival has celebrated the artists who give New York its heart and soul,” said Rosenthal, “and on the opening night of the 2025 festival, we are thrilled to honor Billy Joel – an artist who has embodied that very spirit.
“Paying tribute to the legendary performer who captured the essence of a ‘New York State of Mind’ is a perfect way to kick off this year’s celebration of creativity and inspiration,” she added.
The 75-year-old put a bow on his decade-long residency at Madison Square Garden last July, give or take a few pop-ups.
In July of 2008, he memorably played a pair of “Last Play at Shea” Stadium shows that drew a whopping 110,000 fans total—though Joel characteristically did not stay away for too long.
He may have halted writing and recording original music for a decade-and-a-half until dropping the aptly-titled “Turn the Lights Back On” in February of 2024. But make no mistake about it, Joel has ceased to ever fade from the public eye; whether he’s announcing another healthy batch of “retirement shows,” or simply listing his jaw-droppingly-priced waterside mansions—the people can’t get enough of the face of this particular stranger.
That considered, he did just postpone a planned tour leg due to an unspecified health issue. Nevertheless, a great dose of the Joel mythos is heading directly to the homes of all those with an HBO subscription.
Per its marketing materials, “So it Goes” is branded as “an expansive portrait” of the singer’s life and musical catalog. It will feature extensive interviews and never-before-seen home movies, personal photographs and musical performances.
Producers include Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin, who previously ran point on “Jane Fonda in Five Acts” for HBO as well.
“Everybody out on the road is out to get you” when you’re driving a motorcycle, Joel told Playboy in the Spring of 1982.“You’re constantly playing terror chess: ‘What am I going to do if this guy does that?’ It clears all the cobwebs out of your head.”
“When you get off the bike,” he added, “it’s, ‘Whew, I made it.'”
Even after crashing his 1978 Harley Davidson in Huntington just a month later, it too was, “I made it.”
Forty-three years later, a still rock-and-rolling world rejoices when recalling the time they breathed a gargantuan sigh of relief.
For the show—by hell or high water, once more—would find a way to continue carrying onward.
...and so it goes.