Saturday, January 27, will mark 10 years since Billy Joel launched his unprecedented residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
The residency had Joel packing the house for one show a month, with only some random illnesses and the COVID-19 pandemic keeping him from his scheduled appointment with the Big Apple crowd.
Joel took the monthly gig as a chance to have some fun onstage, mixing his set with classics like “Piano Man,” “Only The Good Die Young,” “You May Be Right” and “Big Shot,” with deeper cuts like “Los Angelinos,” “Zanzibar,” “Summer of Highland Falls” and “Everybody Loves You Now.”
The show also attracted a whole host of special guests, including Bruce Springsteen, who helped Billy celebrate his 100th show at the Garden in July 2018. Other guests stopping by the residency included Elvis Costello, ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons, Steve Miller, Paul Simon and Miley Cyrus, John Mellencamp, Sting, AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, John Fogerty and even Olivia Rodrigo.
And there’s no doubt the residency has been a huge success. In March 2023 it crossed the $200 million mark. It also broke records at the venue, with Joel now holding the record for the most shows at MSG by a single artist.
But alas, all good things must come to an end. When Joel first announced the gigs he said it would continue “as long as the demand continues,” but in June he finally settled on an end date. He announced he would wrap the residency in July 2024, which will be the 150th MSG show of his career. The final concert is set to happen July 25.
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