Billy Joel played what he said was the final performance of his monthly Madison Square Garden residency with his 150th lifetime show at the venue on Thursday night (7/25). As Rolling Stone points out, Billy 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.”
He had some surprises in store, starting with the appearance of Jimmy Fallon, who came out after “Vienna” to get Joel a banner commemorating his 150-show run. “Congratulations,” Fallon said. “I love you. New York city loves you. The world loves you. You’ve given us all great memories of being here. We’re actually getting to watch you live a memory. You’re never going to forget this night here.”
Later in the show, Guns N’ Roses‘ Axl Rose came out to join Joel on renditions of Wings’ “Live and Let Die” and AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell.” He reappeared for the final song of the encore, “You May Be Right,” which they added a snippet of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” to.
Joel also had his two youngest daughters, Della and Remy, join him on “My Life.” You can watch video of all that, and see Thursday night’s setlist, below.
SETLIST: BILLY JOEL @ MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, 7/26/2024
Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
Pressure
The Entertainer
Zanzibar
Vienna
My Life
Start Me Up (Partial)
An Innocent Man
The Downeaster “Alexa”
Don’t Ask Me Why
New York State of Mind
Allentown
This Is the Time
Live and Let Die (with Axl Rose)
Highway to Hell (with Axl Rose)
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Only the Good Die Young
The River of Dreams
Nessun dorma
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
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 (with Axl Rose)