Frank Sinatra at the Westbury Music Fair in June 1993,...

Frank Sinatra at the Westbury Music Fair in June 1993, four months before his Long Island swan song at Nassau Coliseum.  Credit: Newsday / Bruce Gilbert

So many iconic performers have graced Long Island stages — from the king of the Rat Pack, Frank Sinatra, to the queen of the one-liners, Joan Rivers — leaving a lasting impression that's impossible to duplicate.

While we will never see these five icons perform in person again, let's look back at their final appearances on Long Island that left audiences wishing for more.

Frank Sinatra

Oct. 6, 1993, Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale

Rumors were rampant that the Chairman of the Board, then 77 years old, would be lip-syncing at this Coliseum show, which also had Don Rickles on the bill. No doubt they stemmed from Sinatra's trio of shows at Westbury Music Fair four months earlier when he forgot the lyrics despite having seven TelePrompTer screens around him. (In his Westbury review, Newsday music critic Wayne Robins noted that during "Strangers in the Night," Ol' Blue Eyes sang "a lovely pair of pants away" instead of "a warm embracing glance away.") Fans had nothing to fear: He sang live, loud and clear to the delight of the audience at the Coliseum, even if Sinatra, who died in 1998 at age 82, did miss a few lines during his renditions of "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "My Way."

Alan King

June 10, 2001, Westbury Music Fair

Alan King famously called the Long Island Expressway "the world's longest parking lot." Credit: AP

The comic, who always had a cigar in his hand, was a Westbury regular who first played the venue in 1967. Though he grew up in Brooklyn, King became a die-hard suburbanite when he moved to Rockville Centre in the 1950s and then to the Kings Point mansion built by lyricist Oscar Hammerstein. No surprise that life on Long Island was the source for much of his comedy (he famously joked that the Long Island Expressway was "the world's longest parking lot"). Incidentally, opening for King, who died in 2004, at that final Westbury show was a pre-"The View" Joy Behar.

Joan Rivers

July 25-26, 2014, The Paramount, Huntington

Joan Rivers played The Paramount in Huntington only six weeks before she died in 2014. Credit: AP / Chris Pizzello

Rivers was in peak form as she delivered her inimitable brand of acerbic comedy at this show, which took place less than six weeks before her death on Sept. 4. The venerable performer was 81 and even after five decades in show biz could still draw an audience: Her July 25 show sold out almost immediately, which led to a second date being added. Evidently, Long Islanders couldn't wait for her to ask "Can we talk?"

Don Rickles

June 16, 2016, NYCB Theater at Westbury

Insult comic Don Rickles's final Westbury appearance was a sitdown...

Insult comic Don Rickles's final Westbury appearance was a sitdown with Regis Philbin. Credit: Getty Images for Caesars Palace / Ethan Miller

For his final Long Island appearance, the stingingly funny stand-up sat down with TV personality Regis Philbin for "A Rickles and Regis: Laughfest!" Modeled after "This Is Your Life" (minus the surprise guests), Philbin moderated the look back at Mr. Warmth's career with clips from Rickles' movies (who could forget "Muscle Beach Party"?), TV appearances and more. We can only hope Rickles, who died in 2017 at age 90, called Philbin a hockey puck at some point.

Jimmy Buffett

Aug. 9, 2022, Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh

Jimmy Buffett in concert with his band The Coral Reefers...

Jimmy Buffett in concert with his band The Coral Reefers at the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater in 2011. Credit: Michael E. Ach

Buffett's annual Jones Beach concert was a summer tradition, preceded by a day of tailgating by his beloved fans, aka Parrotheads. For his final Jones Beach show, Buffett, who died in 2023, again transformed the stage into Margaritaville complete with fake sea birds, shimmering ocean backgrounds and the Coral Reefer Band to accompany him. "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" opened the show and his biggest hit, "Margaritaville," closed it, with 23 other songs in between, including "Cheeseburger in Paradise," "Pencil Thin Mustache" and a cover of Crosby, Stills and Nash's "Southern Cross." 

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