He’s movin’ out. As Billy Joel prepares to end his legendary, decade-long, 104 show, 1.9 million ticket-selling residency at Madison Square Garden, here we are waving the Piano Man goodbye Thursday night for the first time since 2014.
He will hold the venue’s record for most performances after tonight at 150. Last-minute sales are in the high hundreds and thousands to see the pride of Long Island perform one more time, for the longest time. “We wanted to make it special not only for Billy but also for the fans who have made his residency so successful,” Josephine Vaccarello, MSG Entertainment executive vice president of live events, who oversaw Joel’s decade-long stay, told The Post.
The most tasteful of the celebrations begins with some quite literal “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant.” MSG has converted concourse space outside of section 113 to red and white checked cloth tables, plus a juke box, with a menu that will have you eating like a big shot. Chicken vodka parmesan heroes, one-pound meatballs from Lavo, filet mignon steak sandwiches, antipasto, and bakery cannolis will be served.
Drinks like Long Island Iced Teas and “greyhounds” of vodka and grapefruit juice also evoke the entertainer. On a much more sentimental note, Joel — the first MSG musical franchise — has also been enshrined into the Garden’s “Defining Moments” wall close by. It displays memorabilia from the past ten years like set lists, equipment used, plus a pair of the one-time Hicksville resident’s ray bans.
A few sections over by 116, a special photo booth was installed where attendees can leave messages to Joel , who has taken the Long Island Rail Road to his own shows before. That connection Joel has shared with his diehard fans is what made the past decade such a hit, said Vaccarello, who called him a rare artist able to “transcend generations.” Joel has made it a touching tradition to not sell the front row in front of his stage to bring down “real fans” in the “cheap,” further away seats, he previously told Billboard .
On a similar note, Joel performs on a 360-degree rotating piano stand so he can face the audience in four directions. It gives those behind the stage an up close and frontal view at times. He has also wooed concertgoers with a bevy of surprise guests over the years, letting the audience vote on which songs to play, and saving the final “Piano Man” chorus for the crowd to sing acapella en masse.
“Every single person knows every single word to every single song,” Vaccarello added. It’s also become a tradition for fans to wave arm to arm at the end of “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant.” The show-stopping number begins with guitarist Mike Delgudice singing the opera piece “Nessun Dorma.
” Through the years, Joel also has invited several veterans onto his stage when performing his somber Vietnam War song, “Goodnight Saigon.” Perhaps most touching in 2019, he privately invited Brooklyn’s 14-year-old Logan Riman, a blind pianist, on stage to do a sound check. They then performed a duet of “Piano Man” together.
“He has a love and an affinity for Madison Square Garden and the fans, and he does show it literally every time he performs on the stage,” Vaccarello said. “And I love that about him.” Those who attend tonight are also privy to special merchandise unique to that of Joel’s other shows at multiple locations across MSG.
Special sweatshirts, t-shirts, koozies, leather and wool varsity jackets, pins and posters will be sold. A special pop-up in the Garden’s Chase Square entrance was also open to the public on Wednesday through 6 p.m.
Thursday night. Joel has laughed through the closing chapter. When addressing the residency’s end to a crowd last November, he joked that everyone in the Empire State had already seen the show.
Vaccarello noted: “He will always be part of our family and he is welcome back any time.”.
