In December 1978, Billy Joel headlined Madison Square Garden for the first time, playing three dates on tour for his first No. 1 album, 52nd Street. Dozens more performances followed over the years, and in January 2014, Joel launched a monthly residency as The Garden’s first “music franchise.”
Well, the monthly live is also approaching the end. On Thursday, Joel and the Garden announced the final 10 performances of the series, announcing that the residency will end in July 2024 with the series’ 104th performance, marking the 150th performance of his lifetime at the Garden. .
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement, “There is only one thing more New York than Billy Joel, and that is a Billy Joel concert at MSG.”
“Billy Joel’s franchising has made history, not just for Madison Square Garden, but for the music industry as a whole,” said James L. Dolan, CEO of MSG Entertainment, which owns the Garden and other venues. ‘ added.
Joel’s management of MSG is a cultural phenomenon and a business in its own right. Every show is sold out, and apart from a dozen or so of his two standards, “Piano Man,” “Allentown,” “New York State of Mind,” “It’s Still It’s almost certain that you’ll get to hear ‘Rock’n’Roll To Me’. The setlist is varied enough to keep fans coming back again and again. The roster of special guests includes Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Olivia Rodrigo, and Joel’s daughter Alexa Ray Joel.
The residency will continue on an almost monthly schedule since its inception, with the exception of an 18-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and will resume in November 2021.
According to industry publication Polestar, Joel’s residency had drawn about 1.7 million people and sold $207 million in tickets by the time of its 89th performance in April. By his final performance, the residency’s revenue will exceed $250 million.
The idea for the residency came after Celine Dion’s two record-breaking Las Vegas performances, which began in 2003 and ultimately sold nearly $660 million in tickets. But Joel hesitated to go there. “I didn’t want to live in a place like Las Vegas,” he says. once said. “I don’t even like Las Vegas.”
Joel’s Garden performance has become “the Super Bowl of musical events,” his longtime booking agent Dennis Alpha told The New York Times last year. It’s also influenced the new residency model that’s been taking hold in the music industry lately, with some superstar artists choosing to play in a handful of venues rather than criss-cross the map one gig at a time. They prefer to stay longer, which can reduce tour costs. And I’ll give you a little bit of branding buzz. Harry Styles, for example, played 15 shows at The Garden last year, and another 15 at Kia Forum in Inglewood, California in late 2022 and 2023.
Joel, 74, is set to launch his 10th countdown show on Oct. 20. The singer’s representative said that while Joel is ending the act, Joel will not retire.
