Watch Axl Rose Join Billy Joel For Three Songs At Final MSG Residency Show
Billy Joel has been holding down his monthly Madison Square Garden residency for the longest time, but now he’s movin’ out. The Long Island icon announced at the start of summer that his 150th career MSG performance would mark the end of the residency, which began on Jan. 27, 2014 and totaled 104 sold-out shows. Joel has since clarified that he’ll probably play MSG again sometime, but as of Thursday night, the monthly tradition has officially come to an end.
Joel has a tendency to bring out special guests at these gigs. Last month it was Trey Anastasio. For his grand finale, Joel welcomed to the stage none other than his old friend Axl Rose. In the middle of the set, Rose joined Joel for covers of Wings’ “Live And Let Die” (which Guns N’ Roses covered on Use Your Illusion I) and AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell”; recall that Rose filled in as AC/DC’s singer for a spell. Then, at the end of the night, Rose returned to help Joel close out the encore with “You May Be Right.” Rose previously covered “Highway To Hell” and “Big Shot” with Joel at shows in 2017.
“He was dying to talk to me,” Joel told The New York Times about the first time he met Rose at a Sunset Strip club years ago: “While Rose was inquiring about Joel’s hard-luck tune ‘Captain Jack,’ a lineup of women awaited Rose’s attention. ‘They’re leaning over in front of him, like displaying their goods,’ Joel remembered. ‘And I’m like, why are you talking to me?'”
Jimmy Fallon was also on hand for the raising of a banner honoring Joel’s 150 MSG performances — the most by any artist at the venue, which took place five songs into the set — a moment that also saw Joel’s daughters, 8-year-old Della Rose and 6-year-old Remy Anne, take the stage. Watch footage of all three Joel/Rose team-ups and the banner raising below, where you can also find the setlist via setlist.fm.
SETLIST:
“Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)”
“Pressure”
“The Entertainer”
“Zanzibar”
“Vienna”
“My Life”
“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” / “River Deep, Mountain High” (sung by Crystal Taliefero)
“Nessun dorma” (sung by Mike DelGuidice)
“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)
