Elvis Costello Makes Surprise Appearance at Billy Joel MSG Show
Elvis Costello was the latest surprise guest during the Dec. 19 Billy Joel residency show at Madison Square Garden.
Costello joined The Piano Man on stage and performed “Pump It Up,” with Joel backing him on piano. The two then dueted on Joel’s song “Allentown.” Footage of the performance can be seen here.
Costello is just the latest in a long ling of cameos during Joel’s historic MSG residency. Keep scrolling to see a list of just some of our favorite cameos over the years.
The End of Joel’s Residency
Joel announced in June that he would be ending his Madison Square Garden residency in July 2024. The final show has been announced for July 25, 2024, which will be Joel’s 150th career performance at the legendary venue.
The remaining MSG residency shows are as follows:
-January 11, 2024
-February 9, 2024
-March 28, 2024
-April 26, 2024
-May 9, 2024
-June 8, 2024
-July 25, 2024
Per Ultimate Classic Rock, Joel said during a June 2023 press conference about the end of his residency, “I’m kind of flabbergasted that it lasted as long as it did. My team tells me that we could continue to sell tickets, but ten years … 150 shows — all right already!”
The Residency Setlist
Many residencies often stick to the same setlist every night. While most of Joel’s residency setlists feature his biggest hits, there’s some variation in nearly every show. According to Joel, that is done by design.
In a May 2019 interview with Rolling Stone, Joel explained how he usually likes to create a setlist that features the hits and popular album tracks. However, after reading an article about him in The New Yorker titled “The 33 Hit Wonder,” he decided to try and do a setlist of nothing but his hits. While he admitted it felt different for him, Joel also said, “But I kinda like just going bang, bang, bang, bang, hit, hit, hit, hit. By the end of the show, ‘Hey, that was a pretty good set list.'”
Billy Joel: 8 Great MSG Residency Cameos
