Billy Joel Announces End to MSG Residency!

The day had to come — but after a decade, Billy Joel has finally announced that he’ll be ending his monthly residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The final show will coincide with his 150th career performance at the arena in July 2024. At the press conference at MSG, which included comments by Mayor Eric Adams, Billy said, “I’m kind of flabbergasted that it lasted long as it did. My team tells me that we can continue to sell tickets but. . . I don’t know 150 shows, 10 years — it’s like, ‘alright already!’”

Regarding the well-publicized scale of his Long Island estate, Billy promised fans he’s not leaving New York: “I’m just spending a little more time down in Florida like all Jewish guys do from New York City so it’s really not that much news. . . It keeps selling and people keep coming and people keep buying tickets, and I’m now 74. I’ll be 75 next year. It seems like a nice number.”

Newsday reported: “(Billy Joel) became the Garden’s first ever music franchise in December 2013 when he announced the residency, which started in January 2014 and he has played monthly at MSG since, sans the pandemic lockdown. His residency performances have totaled 90 to date with 136 career performances overall.”

Unlike a lot of musicians who struck big and went from club gigs to straight to local “enormo-domes” across the country, Billy Joel — like his Columbia Records labelmate Bruce Springsteen — made his way up the ranks as a credible live act: “What’s interesting to me, I started on my own in the Village. I was in bands that played in New York City before, but I’d never played on my own ’till, I guess 1970, I started in Greenwich Village at the Gaslight. And then I played the Bitter End, the Village Gate, and Max’s Kansas City — and that was club era. And then we moved up to Carnegie Hall, that was a very exciting gig, really exciting. And then we played the Bottom Line, and that was broadcast on the radio. After that, I did Lincoln Center at Philharmonic Hall, and then we started playing Madison Square Garden, which was a big jump.”