Billy Joel remembers summers in Brooklyn, imitates Springsteen on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

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ABC/Randy Holmes

ABC/Randy HolmesBilly Joel stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday night to talk about his career and later played “Miami 2017.”

Jimmy Kimmel has been broadcasting from his native Brooklyn all week. Billy was born in the Bronx and grew up in Long Island, but told Jimmy that he spent his summers with his grandparents in Brooklyn.

“Instead of going out to Long Island like most people do in the city in the summer, we went to Brooklyn,” Billy joked.

When Jimmy pointed out that he had seen Bruce Springsteen on Broadway the night before, and heard Billy was at the venue, he expected to see Joel on stage as a special guest. It didn’t happen because the Springsteen show isn’t featuring special guests, Joel said. He was just there as a fan.

When Jimmy asked him about his favorite Springsteen song, Joel replied, “Meeting Across the River,” from the 1975 album, Born to Run. Billy asked Paul Shaffer, who is sitting in with the band all week, if he knew it, which he did not, so Billy improvised it with him from his chair, calling out chords and imitating Springsteen.

Later, Billy talked about how he deals with ticket scalpers. He doesn’t allow ticket sales of the first two rows, he said, instead giving the block of tickets to his crew, who, before a show, then hand them out to people in the back.

But, he said, “The road crew is all guys. So who do they bring up? The cutest girls they can find.”

Billy said he explained this to Elton John when they toured together. Billy continued, “The next show, we look down, there’s all these cute guys in the front row!”

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