Axl Rose joins Billy Joel on stage for final night of Madison Square Garden residency
During the final night of his historic residency at Madison Square Garden on July 25th, Billy Joel brought out Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose as a special guest for an unlikely duet.
This appearance in New York was not the first time the pair have converged on stage. The hard rock frontman, known for singing on his band’s hits such as ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ and ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, previously joined Joel on-stage during his 2017 show at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium.
Although he’s a piano player that’s so inextricable from the instrument that he is respectfully dubbed, ‘The Piano Man,’ Joel is a longtime lover of rock music. He has been known to frequently cover AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’ in the past and has also previously performed the Australian band’s ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ with frontman Brian Johnson.
The show on July 25th marked Joel’s 150th lifetime show at the iconic New York venue, and wrapped up his record-breaking ten-year residency at the arena. In 2014, the ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ songwriter announced his monthly residency, which has only stopped during the pandemic and the occasional medical issue.
Joel once explained that a big factor as to why he agreed to perform at Madison Square Garden on a monthly basis was because of the venue’s proximity to his home after spending decades touring the world and staying in hotels. At the time, he told USA Today: “I can commute to work, like everyone else does. You take the schlep factor out.”
The monthly residency at Madison Square Garden began on January 14th, 2014, and over the years, demand has continued to grow despite Joel not releasing a new studio album since 1993’s River of Dreams. The New Yorker previously maintained he’d continue for as long as there was demand, but after 104 sold-out shows, Joel felt now was the best time to end the run despite tickets still being harder than ever to attain. According to a representative, Joel has sold over 1.9 million tickets during his long stint at the venue.
On a night packed with surprises – including Jimmy Fallon appearing on stage – Joel had one last ace up his sleeve when he was joined by Rose for his 1980 hit ‘You May Be Right’. The collaboration saw Joel return to his rock roots and energise the crowd before they also played a like-for-like rendition of Guns N’ Roses cover of the Wings classic ‘Live and Let Die’, and AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’.
After naming all the historic venues he’s played, including Cuba after Castro came to power, the Soviet Union and Rome’s Coliseum, Joel told the crowd: “But out of all of them, this is the best. There’s no place like this.”
In February this year, Joel shared the single ‘Turn The Lights Back On’, his first new song in nearly 20 years. However, it still remains uncertain whether he’ll release another studio album or if the single will be a standalone fixture in his back catalogue.
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