Thursday, July 25th, Billy Joel participated in his final show of a record-breaking franchise run at Madison Square Garden. The historic night yielded the Piano Man a pair of esteemed titles, including the most lifetime performances by any artist (150) and the most consecutive shows (104) at the Big Apple venue. During the night, guests turned up to assist in the celebratory spirit of the occasion, including appearances by Jimmy Fallon and Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose, who helped Joel and his audience of nearly 20,000 strike the specialty of the occasion.
Billy Joel told the crowd, “Let me mention a couple of things that we’ve done. We were the first group to play at Yankee Stadium [in 1990]. We were the last band to play at Shea Stadium [in 2008]. We played Berlin the night that the Berlin Wall came down [in 1990, so not quite]. We were the first American full-fledged performance in the Soviet Union [in 1987]. And we were the first band to play after Castro came to power, and we played Cuba [1979]. We played in front of the Coliseum in Rome for a half million people [in 2006]. And the food was great. But out of all of them, this is the best. There’s no place like this.”
The conclusion of Joel’s franchise run at The Garden arrives more than 10 years after the first-ever residency performance and 50 years after his debut at the venue, which initially occurred on December 14th 1978. To commemorate the achievement, comedian and television host Jimmy Fallon raised the final banner to the rafters. “Who else does this? No one else does this,” he exclaimed, bubbling with jubilant energy.
Next, Joel’s daughters, Della and Remi, appeared on stage and sang “My Life” alongside their dad. After a couple more tunes, the locationally fitting “New York State of Mind” was added to the course of classic material, acting as the preamble to “Allentown” and “This Is the Time.” plus “Allentown,” “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” “Movin’ Out,” “Piano Man,” “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” “You May Be Right,” “The River of Dreams” racked up the title of consecutive plays at each of the musician’s MSG gigs.
Rock maven Rose assisted Joel on a cover of the Wings “Live and Let Die.” Last night’s rendition was not the first time Rose had taken on the Paul McCartney hit; notably, Guns N’ Roses received Grammy recognition for their take on the layered favourite featured on their “Use Your Illusion I” album. The pair continued their collaborative stage time with AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” They previously performed the cover in 2017. Just when it seemed the guests had retired for the night, Rose returned, this time during the night’s final number, “You May Be Alright.”
Besides sit-ins and well-deserved accolades, the night was, in its simplest form, highlighted by the thrill of fans gathered to share in a historic musical experience, as captured via the night’s energy during “Piano Man.” Watch a pro-shot video provided by Madison Square Garden.
The Fat Angel Sings 