While the NBA’s New York Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers are the resident attractions most widely associated with Madison Square Garden, athletes are not the only talents who have come to call the “World’s Most Famous Arena” home. On Saturday night, in an unprecedented meeting of MSG’s most notable musical tenants, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio joined Billy Joel as a surprise guest during the penultimate show of the latter’s years-long residency at the NYC arena.
Both Billy Joel and Anastasio’s band, Phish, have compiled storied resumes at MSG. Both Joel and Phish have banners hanging in the venue’s rafters alongside the Knicks and Rangers greats of yesteryear (Harry Styles has one, too, but he apparently wasn’t around). At Saturday’s concert, after decades of treating the venue like a timeshare (Phish has played 83 shows there dating back to 1994 while Joel has notched 149 full MSG gigs since 1978) and years of alleged tension between the Piano Man and the Vermont-native jam band stemming from their shared affinity for the Garden, Trey Anastasio and Billy Joel finally shared the arena’s hallowed stage.
Related: John Popper Tried To Steal Phish’s 1997 MSG New Year’s Booking Using Strippers
Joel welcomed Anastasio to the stage toward the end of his show for a song Trey specifically asked to play, 1980 Glass Houses track “Sleeping With the Television On” (“I love this song, thank you,” Anastasio noted after Joel introduced him). In addition to contributing his signature guitar sound and backing vocal harmonies, Trey shared lead vocal duties with Joel on the tune. Billy Joel seemed to catch a bit of the jam bug after hearing Anastasio dig in on the closing coda of “Sleeping With the Television On”: Rather than bringing the collab to a close, he led his band and the Phish guy into the iconic closing section of Derek and the Dominos‘ “Layla”. Later, Anastasio returned during the final minutes of the evening to assist Billy on “You May Be Right”.
“Thank you so much Billy!” Trey wrote in a post on social media after the show. “What a beautiful night.”
Watch videos of Trey Anastasio joining Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden for “Sleeping With the Television On”, “You May Be Right”, and more below.
Billy Joel is due to wrap up his record-setting MSG residency with one final hurrah on July 25th. Trey Anastasio is set to play a pair of orchestral shows later this month in Vienna, VA (6/25) and Lenox, MA (6/29) before heading out on tour with Phish this summer. For a full list of upcoming Billy Joel tour dates, head here. For a full list of upcoming Phish tour dates, head here.
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Billy Joel w/ Trey Anastasio – “Sleeping With the Television On” > “Layla” (Derek and the Dominos, partial) – Madison Square Garden – 6/8/24
[Video: JOELFN – The Joel Fan Channel]
Billy Joel w/ Trey Anastasio – “You May Be Right” – Madison Square Garden – 6/8/24
[Video: JOELFN – The Joel Fan Channel]
Setlist: Billy Joel | Madison Square Garden | New York, NY | 6/8/24
Set: Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), My Life, The Entertainer, Vienna, Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen, partial), Zanzibar, Start Me Up (The Rolling Stones), An Innocent Man, Don’t Ask Me Why, New York State of Mind, Allentown, Turn the Lights Back On, Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song), Keeping the Faith, She’s Always a Woman, Sleeping with the Television On [1], Layla (Derek and the Dominons, partial), Only the Good Die Young, The River of Dreams, River Deep – Mountain High (Ike & Tina Turner), Nessun doma (Giacomo Puccini), 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 [1]
Notes: [1] with Trey Anastasio (guitar, vocals)
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The post Phish’s Trey Anastasio Sits In With Billy Joel At Madison Square Garden [Photos/Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
