Erica Banas // Rock Music Reporter
May 9th
Billy Joel has always tried to keep fans guessing during his monthly Madison Square Garden shows and has welcomed a variety of special guests since his residency at the legendary arena began in January 2014.
In honor of The Piano Man’s birthday today (May 9), here are eight of our favorite residency cameos.
Joel’s August 2014 residency show saw him dust off “Uptown Girl,” which, of course, is about his ex-wife Brinkley, but the audience blew up once they saw the supermodel on the jumbotron in attendance.
The Tonight Show host joined Joel at his 25 residency gig in January 2016, where he did his best Mick Jagger impersonation for a performance of “Start Me Up.” It’s equal parts ridiculous and fun.
Considering Johnson’s somewhat recent retirement from the stage, this performance of “You Shook Me All Night Long” from Joel’s December 2014 residency show is all the more poignant.
Indiana’s favorite son made his second guest appearance during Joel’s residency at the March 2017 show. This time around, Mellencamp and Joel dueted on “Authority Song” to a raucous crowd.
During Joel’s January 2018 MSG show, Gramm and Jones surprised the capacity crowd and performed two of their biggest hits, “Urgent” and “Cold As Ice.”
For Joel’s 100th show ever at MSG, The Boss joined The Piano Man on stage performed “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” and “Born To Run”
John Fogerty joined Joel for two songs during his March 2019 MSG gig: Creedence Clearwater Revival classics “Up Around The Bend” and “Fortunate Son.”
In August 2022, pop star Olivia Rodrigo joined Joel on stage at MSG.
Joel gave Rodrigo quite the introduction naming off her many accolades and adding, “I like her music and so do my kids.” Rodrigo returned the favor before they performed her song “Deja Vu,” which name-checks the Piano Man in the lyrics. Following “Deja Vu,” Joel and Rodrigo then performed “Uptown Girl,” which Joel noted was requested by Rodrigo.
