Who was the first artist to sell out Madison Square Garden in one night?
The United States is littered with iconic music venues, from the prestige of Carnegie Hall to the punk rock haven of Whiskey A Go Go. However, few attract such an iconic reputation as New York’s Madison Square Garden. Since its first incarnation back in 1879, the venue has played host to an insurmountably broad range of events, ranging from ice hockey matches to fascist political rallies. For the most part, the venue is known for its musical performances, which span virtually every genre and generation, though some artists have been more successful than others at selling tickets for MSG.
Madison Square Garden, as we know it today, first opened its doors on Pennsylvania Plaza in 1968 as the fourth incarnation of the venue. The very first musician to play this newly opened version of the venue was Bing Crosby, but over the next few years, a vast array of groups, from Jimi Hendrix to Johnny Cash, would take to the stage. It did not take very long before MSG became one of America’s most legendary venues, where budding young artists dreamed of one day playing.
Despite its legendary nature, the capacity of Madison Square Garden is relatively small for a music venue. At live music events, the arena holds 20,000 attendees, putting it on about the same level as the O2 in London or the Manchester Arena. Nevertheless, the idea of playing Madison Square Garden is often much more appealing to artists in opposition to a stadium show. So, to combat the limited capacity of the venue, many artists have been known to play multiple nights. In recent years, Harry Styles performed 15 consecutive shows at MSG during his Love on Tour show.
If it is a competition for who has played the venue the most, then the winner would undoubtedly be Billy Joel. Back in July this year, Joel commemorated his 150th performance at the venue, the most of anybody in musical history. The ‘Piano Man’ first performed at the venue back in 1978 before commencing a residency at the venue in 2014, which lasted for an entire decade.
Given its iconic nature as a venue, selling out Madison Square Garden has been a sign of prestige and fame for many decades now. Justin Bieber holds the record for the fastest time to sell out the venue when tickets for his two shows in 2012 disappeared in just 30 seconds. In 1977, the venue introduced the ‘Gold Ticket Award’ to commemorate artists who had sold 100,000 tickets at MSG – the equivalent of five sold-out shows. Members of this exclusive club include the likes of The Who, Bob Dylan, and Led Zeppelin, but the very first person to sell out Madison Square Garden in just one night was the Rocket Man himself, Elton John.
Between 1976 and 1977, John performed multiple nights at the venue, with tickets selling in record time, making him the first musician to sell out the legendary venue in 24 hours. Previously, this feat had been achieved by sports events but never by a musician. For his efforts, John was inducted into the Madison Square Gardens Hall of Fame for selling 140,000 tickets in such a short amount of time.
Of course, multiple other artists have matched those numbers since John, but the fact that the pianist was the very first reflects his position as an iconic figure within rock music, and the intense popularity of his work back in the 1970s. Furthermore, Elton John managed to continue selling out shows at MSG as his career progressed, something which shows his continued relevance and popularity within the music industry.
So, how many times has Elton John played Madison Square Garden?
Elton John’s first appearance at Madison Square Gardens happened in September 1973, just weeks before the release of his seminal album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The songwriter even praised MSG as being his “favourite venue in the whole wide world” during his two Farewell Yellow Brick Road shows in 2022, which will likely be the final times he performs there.
Over the course of his extensive career, John has performed at Madison Square Garden on a total of 72 occasions, including both standalone shows and multiple-night residencies. His longest run of consecutive nights at the venue occurred in 1992, when he played seven nights at MSG alongside Lionel Richie and Bruce Hornsby, as a part of his The One Tour, attended by over 113,000 people.
