Axl Rose Joins Billy Joel at Final Madison Square Garden Residency Gig For AC/DC, Wings Covers
Written by djfrosty on July 26, 2024
Billy Joel crashed his historic Madison Square Garden residency run to a close on Thursday (July 25) with a sold-out gig marking his record-setting 150th show at the storied New York arena. After serving up such classics as “New York State of Mind,” “The Entertainer,” “Allentown” and “The Downeaster Alexa,” Joel invited Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose out for a mini-set of covers and duets.
Wearing a Las Vegas-worthy sequin-covered sparkly sport coat, black jeans and shirt and dark shades, Rose came out mid-show to croon his iconic take on Wings’ James Bond theme “Live and Let Die,” with Joel tinkling the ivories as Rose stalked the stage, tossing off wailing high notes and stomping his foot to the song’s staccato stabs.
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Joel busted protocol and stepped up from his piano to strap on an electric guitar as the two also jammed on a cover of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell. Though it seems out of character, the cover was wholly appropriate since Rose filled-in for ailing AC/DC singer Brian Johnson on the hard rockers’ 2016 tour and Joel and Rose have collaborated on the song before, including at Billy’s 2017 Dodger Stadium show in Los Angeles.
After Joel, 75, rolled through a run of other classics — “Only the Good Die Young,” “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant,” “Piano Man,” “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “Uptown Girl” and “Big Shot” — Rose was back for the big finale: a duet on Joel’s 1980s Glass Houses burner “You May Be Right.”
The epic MSG run, during which Joel has sold nearly two million tickets, began on Jan. 14, 2014 and was eased into the history books with some help from Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, who ran onstage to mark the moment when a blue banner reading “Billy Joel 150: Most Lifetime Performances by Any Artist” was unfurled in the rafters.
Joel — who released his first new pop song in 17 years, “Turn the Lights Back On” in February — is not nearly done, with stadiums shows in the UK, Cleveland, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Antonio and Las Vegas keeping him on the road through November.
Watch fan video of the Rose and Joel performances below.