Billy Joel resumed his once-a-month residency at Madison Square Garden in New York Friday after 20 months due to the pandemic.
It was his 120th performance, and 74th in his residency at the “World’s Greatest Arena,” which started in 2014. Like his critics, Billy is very surprised it’s lasted.
Billy Joel says he is surprised his once-a-month residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden is still going strong. OC:…has diminished any.
“I assumed there would be, you know, an arc to it. Like maybe we’d sell out a couple and then eventually it would start to taper off. But it doesn’t seem like the demand has diminished any.”
Early in Friday’s show he said, “I want to thank you for waiting since March of 2020. Sorry we had to shut everything down, but now we’re back!”
He turned in a 24-song set of hits that, appropriately enough, started with “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway).” The 1976 song predicted that the lights on New York’s Great White Way would go out in 2017. He was close.
Billy, whose first Garden concert was on December 14th, 1978, returns there on December 20th followed by January 14th.
Billy Joel – November 5th, 2021 at Madison Square Garden:
- “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)”
- “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”
- “My Life”
- “New York State of Mind”
- “Everybody Loves You Now”
- “Zanzibar”
- “Vienna”
- “Allentown”
- “Pressure”
- “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’ “
- “The Entertainer”
- “She’s Always a Woman”
- “Don’t Ask Me Why”
- “All for Leyna”
- “Sometimes a Fantasy”
- “The River of Dreams”
- “Only the Good Die Young”
- “Nessun dorma” (Giacomo Puccini cover)
- “Piano Man”
Encore:
- “We Didn’t Start the Fire”
- “Uptown Girl”
- “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”
- “Big Shot”
- “You May Be Right”
