Billy Joel Resumes Madison Square Garden Residency With 120th Lifetime Performance

Billy Joel
Greg Allen / GregAllenPhotos.com – Billy Joel
Billy Joel celebrates his 70thbirthday at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y. on May 9.

In another sign of the concert world’s return to some sense of normality, Billy Joel resumes his residency at Madison Square Garden tomorrow (Nov. 5) with his 120th lifetime performance after a lengthy pandemic-caused pause.

The show continues the Piano Man’s record-breaking, sold-out run as MSG’s first “franchise” performer, which paused after his 73rd consecutive monthly show. on Feb. 20, 2020.
 “I can’t begin to express how excited we all are to welcome Billy Joel back to The Garden tomorrow night. Billy is New York, and Madison Square Garden – his home away from home – has not been the same without him,” said James Dolan, Executive Chairman and CEO of MSG Entertainment. “The return of Billy’s monthly sold-out residency is not only about unforgettable music by one of the greatest entertainers in history, it is also an incredibly important moment in New York City’s recovery, and sends a powerful message that we’re on our way back.”
 
Joel’s first concert at The Garden took place Dec. 14, 1978, and in December 2013 he was named the company’s first-ever music franchise, joining the ranks of the storied venue’s other original franchises – the New York Knicks and New York Rangers.
With tomorrow’s scheduled resumption, Joel will continue to perform monthly at MSG “as long as the demand continues,” Joel says in a statement.
The concert won’t mark Joel’s return to the stage, however. He has been performing one-offs in stadiums in the U.S., reporting to Pollstar Boxoffice sellouts Aug. 4 at Fenway Park in Boston (35,346 tickets sold for a gross of $4,798,694); Aug. 14 at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y. (42,013; $5,196,935); and Sept. 10 at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio (37,839; $5,148,301). 
He’s sold a few records in his career, too — 150 million records over the past quarter century of a nearly 50-year career. He’s scored 33 consecutive Top 40 hits, and  is the sixth best-selling recording artist of all time and the third best-selling solo artist. 
 
Joel received The Kennedy Center Honors in December 2013 and has been awarded six Grammy Awards, including the prestigious Grammy Legend Award. Joel has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Among industry awards are a Tony Award for the Broadway musical “Movin’ Out” and he is 2002’s MusiCares Person of the Year, awarded by the MusiCares Foundation and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. 
He’s  received both The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song which honors living musical artists’ lifetime achievement in promoting the genre of song as a vehicle of cultural understanding; entertaining and informing audiences; and inspiring new generations, and the once-in-a-century ASCAP Centennial Award, which is presented to American music icons in recognition of their incomparable accomplishments in their respective music genres and beyond. In 2016, the Library of Congress selected “Piano Man” for preservation in the National Recording Registry for its “cultural, historic, and artistic significance.”