Billy Joel Wraps Historic MSG Residency

Billy Joel took the stage at Madison Square Garden Thursday night (July 25) for the grand finale of his decade-long historic residency. The show marked his 150th appearance at the venue. Joel’s monthly residency at MSG is historic in that a residency at that scale at such a prominent venue has never before been seen — and may never be seen again.

Independent Artist Group’s Dennis Arfa, Joel’s longtime agent, helped formulate the MSG residency concept, which grew from the demise of another iconic (if far less beloved) New York City building across the East River. “After we played Shea Stadium in ’08, it was like how do we follow this?” Arfa told Pollstar for a 2018 cover story on the historic residency. “Shea was a monumental success. McCartney came to close it with Billy and you had Roger Daltrey, Steven Tyler, Tony Bennett, John Mayer and all these superstars show up. So the idea was, how do you follow Shea?”

“One night,” Arfa continues, “my family and Jay Marciano [former MSG president and current chairman/CEO of AEG Presents] were having dinner in Turks & Caicos and that’s the night the idea of making a Garden residency came up. It didn’t come to fruition until several years later. I remember Billy saying to me, ‘Are you sure this is the best move?’ And I would say, ‘Billy, this will end up being a great addition to your legacy.’”

Throughout his storied career at MSG, Joel has averaged $4 million per show. Though the final numbers of his residency are not yet in, his historic monthly residency, which included 104 shows, grossed more than an estimate $260 million with attendance nearing two million. Each month, Joel took the stage with a sold-out crowd that would include both dedicated fans and tourists who saw the show as an essential part of their New York experience.

Last night’s show included a cameo by Guns N’ Roses Axl Rose who duetted on “You May Be Right.” Over the course of Joel’s residency, a number of high-profile artists have made surprise appearances, including Bruce Springsteen’s for Joel’s 100th show where he performed “The Piano Man,” “!0th Avenue Freeze Out” and “Born To Run.” Other cameos included: Steve Miller turning up on multiples doing “The Joker” and “Living in the U.S.A.;” Paul Simon and Miley Cyrus together performing a foot-stomping medley of “You May Be Right” and Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll;” AC/DC’s Brian Johnson belting out “You Shook Me All Night Long;” jazz pianist Chick Corea adding incredible piano runs to “New York State of Mind” (which Joel matched); and Felix Cavaliere doing his Young Rascals hit “Good Lovin.’” Others included Itzhak Perlman, Jimmy Fallon, Howard Stern and, of course, Kevin James.

Between his dates at The Garden, Joel played a surfeit of stadiums across North America including this year a $10.5 million gross at Petco Park in San Diego on April 13, a $13.2 million gross at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Feb. 24, a $12.4 million gross at Soldier Field in Chicago on June 21 and more.

Joel, 75, announced his retirement from the venue last June, holding a press conference inside The Garden to announce his wrap there.

“I’m kind of flabbergasted that it lasted as long as it did,” Joel said at the time. “I do remember the first time we played Madison Square Garden, it was the pinnacle of my career. I thought, ‘My God, I’m headlining Madison Square Garden.’ Everybody in the world knows when you play The Garden, it’s not just New York. To our audience, I want to thank them for coming to our shows for this long. It’s hard to end, even at 150 lifetime shows. I just want to thank everyone for the wonderful thing that’s happened here.”