Billy Joel confirms final Madison Square Garden residency show
Written by worldOneFm on November 3, 2023
Billy Joel has announced his final Madison Square Garden residency show.
The ‘Piano Man’ is set to wrap the record-breaking stint, which first began back in January 2014, on July 25, 2024.
Tickets go on sale on Friday, November 10 at 10am.
It will mark his 104th show as part of the concert series and his 150th performance at the stadium, where he first played in 1978.
The 74-year-old music legend has performed at the iconic New York venue almost monthly since the start of the residency.
Billy recently told reporters he was “kind of flabbergasted” that his residency has “lasted as long” as it has.
He added: “My team tells me that we could continue to sell tickets, but 10 years, 150 shows… all right already!”
The only major disruption came during the COVID-19 pandemic when he was forced to take an 18-month break from the stage.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at the press conference in June: “There’s only one thing that’s more New York than Billy Joel – and that’s a Billy Joel concert at MSG.”
Madison Square Garden hailed Billy’s “extraordinary talent” and insisted he will “always” have a home at the venue.
Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MSG Entertainment James Dolan said in a statement: “Billy Joel’s franchise run has made history – not only for Madison Square Garden, but also for the music industry overall.
“150 sold out lifetime shows is a remarkable achievement, and speaks to Billy’s extraordinary talent, beloved catalog, and dedicated fanbase. Billy always has a home here at MSG even though the residency is coming to an end with his 150th lifetime performance.”
The ‘Uptown Girl’ singer previously expressed his amazement that people continue to come and see him perform, despite the fact he hasn’t released an album of original material for more than 30 years.
He told Rolling Stone magazine in 2019: “I’ve gone onstage and said, ‘I don’t have anything new for you, so we’re just going to play the old s***’. And the audience goes, ‘Yeah!’
“I’ll be sitting in the stadium looking out at 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 people, thinking, ‘What the hell are they all doing here? Why now?’ I guess, in a way, I’m an anachronism. There aren’t that many of me left. There’s a rarity to it, which gives it value.”
