Concerts: “Piano Man” Billy Joel stops at Madison Square Garden

concerts
“Piano Man” Billy Joel stops at Madison Square Garden

Since 2014, Billy Joel has performed regularly at New York’s Madison Square Garden. photo

© Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/dpa

Billy Joel has been performing at Madison Square Garden every month for almost ten years. But now the world-famous “Piano Man” singer has announced his departure – he wants to spend more time elsewhere.

After 10 years, 150 concerts and more than 1.6 million tickets sold, US musician Billy Joel (74) wants to end his famous monthly performance series at Madison Square Garden in New York next year.

“I’m pretty amazed it’s taken this long. My team tells me we could still sell tickets, but ten years, 150 shows – that’s enough,” said Joel at a press conference in New York on Thursday . “It’s hard to stop, even after 150 shows. I just want to say thank you to everyone for the wonderful thing that happened here.” From October 20th there will be another ten last monthly concerts.

Madison Square Garden is like a “home” for him, but he’ll be 75 next year and that seems like a “good number” for him to take the step, said Joel, who is arriving at the press conference with his wife and two young daughters at Madison Square Garden. But that doesn’t mean he’s leaving New York, Joel said. There had been speculation about this before it became known that the musician wanted to sell his property in Long Island near New York. “I’m selling my house in Long Island, but I’m not leaving New York. I’m just spending more time down in Florida like old Jewish men from New York do.”

Record for the most concerts in the “Garden”

The multiple award-winning “Piano Man” singer, who was born William Joel in New York in 1949 and is one of the most successful musicians of his generation, first performed at Madison Square Garden in 1978. “That was the high point of my career.” After that, Joel continued to perform in the “Garden” and since 2014, with a few exceptions, monthly. This made Joel the only music artist with a so-called residence in the hall, which is otherwise mainly held by the basketball players of the New York Knicks and the ice hockey players of the New York Rangers. Joel broke the record for the most concerts in the “Garden” long ago.

His performances in the famous multi-purpose hall in Manhattan with around 20,000 seats are always sold out. According to the organizers, more than 1.6 million tickets have already been sold to fans from more than 120 countries. Joel has also had celebrity support, including Bruce Springsteen, Miley Cyrus, Jimmy Fallon, John Mayer, Olivia Rodrigo and Paul Simon. Joel had actually repeatedly declared that he wanted to continue playing as long as all the seats in the “Garden” were sold out every month.

The concerts always consist of the classics of Americana pop by Joel, a nostalgic feel-good repertoire for his fans – from “We Didn’t Start The Fire” to “River Of Dreams” to “She’s Always A Woman To Me”. Joel hasn’t released a new album in 30 years.

New York Mayor is a big fan

Joel is an “ambassador for everything that’s great about New York,” said Mayor Eric Adams, who also attended the press conference and revealed that the first thing he did every morning after getting into his official car was the “New York State of Mind ” listen – Joel’s hymn to the metropolis from 1976. “New York is the most important city on the planet, which makes Madison Square Garden the most important hall and Billy Joel the most important artist – well done, mate, you’ve done your job .” He keeps meeting people who say how often they’ve been to Joel’s “Garden”. “You feel energized afterwards and honored to be in New York.”

The success of Joel’s concerts “exceeded his wildest dreams,” said Madison Square Garden boss James Dolan – and emphasized that even after the end of the series of performances, Joel was “welcome to the Garden whenever you like”.

dpa

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