Concert: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden (May 2016)

My spouse and I attended the Bill Joel Concert at Madison Square Garden on a Friday evening in late May 2016. “The Garden” (also called “MSG”) is located in Midtown Manhattan near Penn Station, on Pennsylvania Plaza (also known as Seventh Avenue) between 31^st and 33^rd Streets. The current Madison Square Garden was built in 1968, with the most recent renovation completed in 2013 (three previous iterations of MSG existed before the current version). MSG benefits from its vast years of experience and is well equipped to handle crowds of any size. It hosts many counter-service restaurants, bars, and restrooms. Even when an event ends, the many stairs and escalators (which are turned off at exit time) allow the massive crowds to exit quickly. It is the oldest arena in the National Hockey League, the second-oldest arena in the National Basketball Association, and the fourth-busiest music arena in the world. At a total construction cost of approximately $1.1 billion, MSG ranks as one of the 10 most expensive stadium venues ever built. It is part of the Pennsylvania Plaza office and retail complex.

Billy Joel is the first-ever musical franchise at "The World’s Most Famous Arena", along with sports franchises the Rangers (hockey), the Knicks (men’s basketball), and the Liberty (women’s basketball). As such, Billy Joel has agreed to perform one show per month for as long as there is demand to see him, and based on the sell-out concert on the night that we attended, that request will not cease anytime soon! There are two banners hanging at the rear top of the venue near the sports pennants; one banner documents the number of Billy Joel’s consecutive concerts (28^th for our concert) and the number of times he has performed at the Garden (74^th for our concert [the first time was in 1978]). Billy Joel has said, "Madison Square Garden is the center of the universe as far as I'm concerned. It has the best acoustics, the best audiences, the best reputation, and the best history of great artists who have played there," said Billy Joel. "It is the iconic, holy temple of Rock and Roll for most touring acts and, being a New Yorker, it holds a special significance to me. I'm honored to hold the record for Most Consecutive Nights Ever Sold at this world famous venue.”

We bought our tickets through ticket reseller Stub Hub, because it offered better seats than the official ticket seller Ticketmaster. We sat in Section 105, Row 1, Seats 12 and 13; Row 1 was the front-row of the inclined sections, closest to the floor seats, and seats 13 was on an aisle. Section 105 is located on the curve towards the back of the arena, so the view is preferable to us than lower 100-numbered sections that would require us to turn our heads more sharply. We generally avoid purchasing floor seats, because they are portable, narrower, have no armrests or cup holders, and most importantly, are all on the same elevation, meaning that if the people in front of you are tall, it is very difficult to see over them because the seats are all at the same elevation/grade. (At MSG, this is not true of the third/rear section of floor seats [section numbers 1, 2, 3], because that floor section’s seats ARE set on an incline, even though the front two floor sections are not.) We were pleased with our seats and thought that we had good visibility. There are also Jumbotrons overhead that broadcast media and live feeds of Billy Joel throughout the concert. In addition, the piano that Joel played during the show rotated from one side of the venue to another, giving the side sections of the audience a full-on view for at least half the time.

We thoroughly enjoyed seeing Billy Joel perform at Madison Square Garden – something to cross off our bucket list!

Playlist
1. Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
2. Pressure
3. Summer, Highland Falls
4. Summertime Blues 
5. Vienna (audience choice over The Stranger)   
6. Zanzibar (audience choice over Big Man on Mulberry Street) 
7. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
8. Layla  (Derek and the Dominos [Eric Clapton] cover) 
9. The Entertainer (Dedicated to Donald Trunp) 
10. The Boys of Summer (Don Henley cover) 
11. Allentown
12. New York State of Mind
13. My Life
14. Goodnight Saigon (with members of the United States Navy)  
15. Keeping the Faith
16. Sometimes a Fantasy  
17. She's Always a Woman
18. Don't Ask Me Why 
19. The River of Dreams  (with Summer in the City interl) 
20. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
21. Piano Man
22. We Didn't Start the Fire 
23. Uptown Girl
24. It's Still Rock and Roll to Me 
25. Big Shot
26. You May Be Right  (with Rock & Roll snippet)
27. Only the Good Die Young