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Madison Square Garden

Following a Donald Trump rally at Madison Square Garden over the weekend that included racist and derogatory comments about Latinos, Puerto Rico and others, a representative for the Manhattan arena distanced itself from highly publicized remarks but stopped short of condemning the comments.

“As a business we are neutral in political matters,” the rep says in a statement provided to Billboard. “We rent to either side. We don’t censor artists, performers or speakers.”

The statement follows an appearance at the rally by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose 12-minute address involved a series of disparaging remarks about Palestinians, Jewish people, Latinos, major musical stars and more.

“These Latinos, they love making babies, just know that. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country,” said Hinchcliffe, host of the popular live comedy podcast Kill Tony. He followed that statement by saying, “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”

This latter statement garnered swift and widespread backlash, with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris quickly releasing a video pledging to do her best for the citizens of the island. Harris’ video was boosted by myriad Puerto Rican artists including Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin and Luis Fonsi.

On Monday (Oct. 28), Marc Anthony also responded, writing on X (formerly Twitter) that “[Trump] launched his campaign by calling Latinos criminals and rapists. He’s told us what he’ll do. He’ll separate children from their families and threatened to use the ARMY to do it This election goes way beyond political parties… And that’s why I support Kamala Harris for President.”

For the Sunday (Oct. 27) rally, the Trump campaign rented Madison Square Garden, which has been used for a number of political events over its long history, including both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. During the rally, the Democratic National Committee projected messages on the side of the venue, including one that read “Trump Praised Hitler.” (To wit, in 1939, Madison Square Garden hosted a rally for the American Nazi party that was billed as a “pro-Americanism” and attended by approximately 20,000 people. The American Nazi party was later outlawed following Adolf Hitler’s declaration of war against the U.S. following the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor at the end of 1941.)

In addition to his other remarks, Hinchecliff’s speech included several derogatory statements about major music stars. “I don’t know about you, but I think that Travis Kelce might be the next O.J. Simpson,” he said in reference to the boyfriend of Taylor Swift, whom Trump lashed out at on X (formerly Twitter) after the superstar endorsed Harris for president in September.

The comedian also referenced Harris supporters Leonardo DiCaprio, Eminem and Beyoncè, saying that “every day the Democratic party looks more like a P. Diddy party.”

During his speech, Trump himself called Madison Square Garden “incredible” and thanked MSG Entertainment CEO James Dolan, a registered Democrat who’s been friends with Trump for more three decades. “I want to thank Jim Dolan,” Trump said. “He’s been incredible. He’s been just incredible. The job they’ve done. The job they’ve done. Thank you.”

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Donald Trump announced a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, compelling some to compare it to an infamous Nazi rally once held there.
On Wednesday (Oct. 9), an official with former President Donald Trump’s election campaign confirmed that they would be holding a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City. News of the rally immediately sparked comparisons to an infamous rally held by a group sympathetic to the Nazi Regime in Germany in 1939. According to reports, the campaign event will be held on Oct. 27, and “will kick off an ‘arena tour’ for the former president who plans to visit battleground states in the final push before the Nov. 5 election,” reportedly including Coachella in Palm Springs, California.

Trump teased the possibility of a rally at the vaunted arena in April. “We’re going to be doing a rally at Madison Square Garden, we believe,” he said at the time. “We think we’re signing Madison Square Garden to do. We’re going to have a big rally honoring the police, and honoring the firemen, and everybody. Honoring a lot of people, including teachers by the way. We’ll be honoring the people that make New York work.” At his campaign rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday evening, he announced it to the crowd who met the news with cheers. “We’re going to make a play for New York,” he said.
Observers noted that the rally’s theme of “America First” bears a striking resemblance to the rally held at the former Madison Square Garden on Feb. 20, 1939, by the German American Bund. The rally featured attendees cheering on “speeches were explicitly anti-Semitic, and tirades against ‘job-taking Jewish refugees’ were met with thunderous applause.” It would be the subject of a PBS short film released in 2020, A Night at the Garden, which captured the event. Others questioned Trump’s decision to have a rally in a state that hasn’t gone for a Republican since Ronald Reagan.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, historian Michael Beschloss shared an image from that 1939 event featuring a banner of George Washington next to a banner bearing the Nazi swastika in response to the news. In another X post, New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal called on Madison Square Garden to cancel, feeling their approval for the rally was a decision “that will endanger the public safety of New Yorkers and has the potential to incite widespread violence.”

This is a disastrous decision by Madison Square Garden that will endanger the public safety of New Yorkers and has the potential to incite widespread violence.
For the good of NYC and its residents, I demand @TheGarden keep our city safe by cancelling the Trump rally 3/3
— Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal (@bradhoylman) October 9, 2024
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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.

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Two weeks from now Billy Joel will wrap up one of the most legendary residencies in music history. The Long Island native will play his 150th and final show at Madison Square Garden on July 25 when he plays the last note of a run that officially kicked off in January 2014 and has had the “Piano Man” playing the historic venue once a month on his way to setting the record for the most lifetime MSG performances by any artist.

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Joel, 75, sat down with Willie Giest for an interview slated to air on Sunday TODAY (July 14) in which the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer opens up about his feelings on the eve of the anticipated finale. “Well, I’m kind of sad that it’s ending,” Joel says of the series that has sold more than 1.6 million tickets to date. “You know, 10 years in Madison Square Garden is beyond my dreams as a musician. We were the house band for 10 years at the Garden, which I think is the best performance venue in the world.”

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And Joel would know, since he’s been pounding the white and blacks on his baby grand all around the world for more than five decades. “I’ve played all kinds of stadiums, arenas, coliseums, theaters, the Garden is the best sound,” he says of the 19,500-capacity arena. “And it’s in New York, which is usually a crazy audience and they make a lot of noise and we have fun.”

Now, to be clear, Joel says that the end of the run doesn’t mean he’ll never play MSG again, just that this seemingly unbeatable record string of shows is reaching its natural end. Plus, Joel says, 150 feels like a “good round number” to bow out on. When he kicked the residency off more than a decade ago, Joel tells Geist he never imagined it would last this long, assuming there would be a peak and then a slow eventual decline.

“But that hasn’t happened, they’re buying more tickets recently than they were at the beginning,” he says of the sold-out shows, noting that he could have easily kept going, but that after a decade he felt like it was “all right already.”

With Geist noting that Stub Hub says the final show is one of the hottest tickets in town this summer, he wondered if Joel is having second thoughts about hanging it up. “Yeah, a lot of second thoughts,” Joel says. “It’s kind of sad because we could have kept going but I didn’t want to outstay my welcome.”

Joel — who released his first new pop song in 17 years, “Turn the Lights Back On” in February — has a stadium gig in Denver on Friday night (July 12) before his final MSG curtain call, followed by stadium shows in the UK, Cleveland, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Antonio and Las Vegas that will keep him busy through November.

Check out a preview of the interview here and watch the full chat on Sunday Today on Sunday.

Emily Lichter has managed the band Lake Street Dive for more than a decade, since “they were playing for tips” in small clubs on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. While the retro-pop group is not a household name, their fortunes have changed quite a bit: Later this year, they’re slated to play New York’s legendary Madison Square Garden for the first time, where capacity ranges from 12,000 to 18,000, depending on the configuration of a show.
“Our joke is they’re the biggest band that no one’s ever heard of,” Lichter says. 

Sure enough, some onlookers have expressed surprise that the band has the oomph to headline the World’s Most Famous Arena. “Someone asked me who Lake Street was supporting at MSG,” adds Leigh Millhauser, the band’s agent at Wasserman Music. “And I said: Themselves.”

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Every year, a new crop of artists tries to level up their live act and make the leap to arenas. Going for it can be fraught — even for those who are confident they can pull it off. “I’ve heard all the horror stories about people who make the arena jump too soon,” says Ed Harris, manager of Cigarettes After Sex, the tranquil rock band who will also play MSG for the first time later this year. “You’ve got to be very careful.”

“You can’t have a weak stomach,” agrees Andrew Friedman, who manages Wallows, playing their first MSG show in August. The process can involve “a lot more sleepless nights, and more calls to the band’s agents and promoter than they would probably love,” Friedman continues.

Managers and agents often speak about the live side of the music business as if they are basketball coaches stressing the importance of fundamentals in post-game interviews. Be “methodical” and “consistent;” rely on “hard work” and “elbow grease.” Nearly everyone offers up a variation of the same phrase: “Don’t skip steps.” (Olivia Rodrigo used a version of this rationale to explain why she didn’t jump straight to arenas after the runaway success of her first album.)

“You’re trying to sell out every show and you’re trying to not go backwards,” says Robby Fraser, a partner at WME Music. “A way to not go backwards is not jump ahead too fast.”

Those who don’t adhere to those rules — who try to fill an arena without the highly enthusiastic fan base needed to support the move — may see their live opportunities suffer down the line. “Festival bookers want to know you’re worth X tickets,” explains Kirk Harding, co-owner of the label and management company Bad Habit. “If you’re out here saying you’re worth 10,000 tickets, and 5,000 people show up, you’re not as hot as you’re telling them. You might not get that festival slot you want, which is huge.”

On top of that, “the artists’ egos get bruised” when ticket counts come up short, according to Duffy McSwiggin, svp at Wasserman Music. Acts can become the butt of jokes, as screenshots showing large patches of empty seats or bottom-of-the-barrel ticket prices circulate on social media. Plus logistically, “there’s damage control we have to do,” McSwiggin continues. “That might be rescaling the house, closing the top and moving people down — that takes a lot of people hours.” 

To avoid ending up in this position, agents say they pore over data from past shows, trying to determine the extent of the demand for a performance in any given market. Streaming numbers offer one measure of an artist’s appeal, but they are less useful for gauging whether a listen will support an artist financially, whether that means buying a ticket or merchandise.

“Somebody can have 4 million monthly listeners on Spotify, but they might not even fill out a 500-capacity club,” Fraser says. “Those are people that at one point click a button. But that doesn’t really equate to your faithful fans.”

Instead of scrutinizing streams, Millhauser is “obsessed with all the data surrounding previous market plays:” For example, “did the tickets blow out at the on-sale or slowly trickle to sell-out;” “what zip codes did the fans come from;” “was it a Tuesday night show or a Friday night show last time?”

Managers have their own rules of the road. “When you can put up two Radio City shows” — capacity over 5,700 — “and sell them out quickly, that is a clear indicator that you’re worth Madison Square Garden,” says Drew Simmons, a partner at Foundations Artist Management. (A rep for MSG did not respond to requests for comment.) 

After Lake Street Dive performed two nights at Radio City in 2022, the band’s team performed “a zip code audit,” Lichter says, and found that just 31 people attended both nights. “Add up all those tickets, and you’re like, ‘we sold around 10,000 tickets,’” she explains. “That’s kind of an MSG.”

For Mt. Joy, who are making their MSG debut in September, the equation was different. “Last year we did two Central Parks,” says Jack Gallagher, the band’s manager. Like Radio City, Central Park Summerstage can fit more than 5,000 people. 

However, “arenas are way harder to sell than a field,” according to Gallagher — with a field, “people don’t have to coordinate with their friends and figure out where they’re going to sit, and seats are cheap.” While “it’s definitely still a risk to put up a venue that’s not much bigger than two Central Parks,” he continues, “we just went for it.” (Ali Hedrick, a partner and agent at Arrival Artists, points out that the band has played more than 30 times in the state of New York since 2017; New York City and Chicago are two of the group’s strongholds.)

Wallows also took an alternate route to MSG. “We know that the audience wanted to be close to the band and on the floor,” Friedman says, “and those balconies at Radio City, they’re far away.” Instead, Wallows elected to perform four shows at Terminal 5, a 3,000-capacity venue. “Now do we go back and do Radio City?” Friedman asks. “That starts to feel like a lateral move. You can either play it safe, or you can take a swing.”

Some artists have gusts of wind at their back which might speed their path to arenas. Many bands didn’t tour during COVID, but once the world began to open up somewhat, Mt. Joy “did 33 drive-in shows” — outdoor performances with social distance measures in place — “during the pandemic,” according to Hedrick. “So when other artists went away, they kept touring and played in front of a lot of people. That was one thing that made them stand out from the crowd” when life returned fully to normal. 

It’s not surprising that TikTok virality can also give a band a lift. Before COVID, Cigarettes After Sex typically played 3,000- to 5,000-capacity venues. Then during the pandemic, a new audience started to find the band’s music on TikTok. “That injected steroids into everything,” Harris says. “The fan base got a lot younger and a lot more enthusiastic.” Last year, the band played Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, which fits more people in some scenarios than MSG, even if it’s less iconic. 

One of Harding’s longtime management clients is The Neighbourhood, who spent much of their career steadily growing their live business. “Touring was leading the way; it wasn’t streaming super heavy,” Harding says.

During COVID, songs from The Neighbourhood became the soundtrack of choice for millions of TikTok videos, leading to a hefty increase in streaming. “Should they reassemble and come back from hiatus, they’ll do an MSG now if they want to — when you have explosive moments, you can maybe miss a step,” Harding says. 

But “if you’re not having those, you’re just slowly building,” he continues. “You quietly, diligently take the steps until people are like, ‘Wait, they’re worth that many tickets? I had no idea.’” 

Davido has been on a victory lap since last March when he dropped his fourth studio album Timeless, which earned the Afrobeats heavyweight three Grammy nominations this year. But on April 17, he’ll celebrate a very special stop: his first headlining show at NYC’s Madison Square Garden.
“I always said I want to be at the Garden. I think that’s every artist’s dream. The greats have performed there, like Michael Jackson,” he tells Billboard over Zoom while on the set of his music video for the Fave-assisted “Kante.” “I did five arenas last year for the Timeless Tour. But we didn’t have New York, so definitely this time, we wanted to add New York.”

The North American leg of the Timeless Tour included stops in Washington, D.C., Houston, Chicago, Boston, Toronto and Atlanta (the last stop was part of Davido’s A.W.A.Y Fest, which featured additional performances from his “Unavailable” collaborator Musa Keys, Spinall, Victony, King Promise and more). Following his summer stint, Davido embarked on the European leg, which had stops in the U.K., Germany, Denmark, Sweden and France. He ended 2023 back home with three performances in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Lagos. His MSG show is the first of three additional North American arena dates, which continue with a show at Montreal’s Place Bell on April 19 and end with a show at Orlando’s Additional Financial Arena on April 24.

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“My show right now is over two hours [long]. And my new setup for tour, there’s a Stage A and there’s a Stage B, so I’m running up and down the whole night,” he says. “To produce the Davido show right now, we’re talking about $400,000, almost $500,000 – just for production alone. That’s one thing I think we’ve improved on a lot. And I have an amazing band, The Compozers. It’s the full package.”

Davido says he always has a new favorite Timeless track that he enjoys playing live, but “I definitely love performing ‘Feel,’ ‘cause it’s a very energetic record and it’s a feel-good song.” But when it comes to Davido’s other timeless records, he says the crowd still goes crazy over his 2013 track “Skelewu.” “I don’t feel like there’s a major formula to making timeless music. To me, it just comes naturally.” There is, however, one key ingredient needed for Davido’s pre-show ritual. “I definitely need to get my massage, a little 40-minute massage in,” he adds. “I eat, but I don’t like to eat too much ‘cause I don’t want to be too full ‘cause I gotta move around. And 20 minutes before I get on stage, I like to have a little bit of quiet time to myself.”

Performing in New York has also become a special ritual. The first time the Atlanta-born Nigerian artist born David Adedeji Adeleke performed in New York was in 2014 at the Pulse 48 nightclub in Brooklyn, which the New York Police Department had to shut down because the show was overbooked. “I’ve been coming back to New York almost every year since then,” he says. “New York was one of the first cities that was really putting on for African music in the mainstream. The first song that I got on the radio was in New York, so New York has a special place in my heart.”

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His 2017 single “Fall,” which was later included on his sophomore album A Good Time, gradually took over U.S. airwaves two years after its release, reaching No. 13 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and No. 14 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay in 2019. And listeners were eager to discover exactly who was behind it: In New York City, “Fall” became a top 10 record on Shazam in 2019, Rolling Stone reported at the time, while “If,” another big Davido record from 2017, was a top 50 Shazam record two years after it came out.

Davido recently scored another hit with his apperance on Chris Brown’s “Sensational,” which earned Davido and fellow featured artist Lojay their first entries on the Billboard Hot 100. “I feel like I should have 100 entries, bro, but they finally let a n—a in!” he laughs. “Shoutout to CB. Me and him have an amazing working relationship, [we’ve] been working for years now, we got a couple records, performed all over the world with my brother. Me and CB ‘bout to drop more records, too. I think we drop another one in a couple of weeks, so watch out for that.” The two have collaborated on “Blow My Mind” and “Lower Body” in 2019, “Shopping Spree” (also with Young Thug) in 2020 and “Nobody Has to Know” in 2022.

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His fans will also have to watch out for his upcoming album (“It’s another classic, trust me,” Davido teases) that he’s currently working on – even while he’s on tour. “We got a mobile studio, so I can literally record anywhere. Inspiration can come anytime whether I’m on stage, whether I’m on the road,” says Davido. “I’ll always set up a studio and I have my producers fly with me, travel with me.” 

And as he continues to spread African music and culture across the globe through his recorded and live music, Davido wants his African fans who will be attending the MSG show to “leave and be proud to be who they are, proud of the culture, proud of how far we’ve come. As Africans, we’re changing the narrative of being African in America. Years ago, it was a different thing. Now, when you say you’re African, you’re proud to say it, eat the food, wear the clothes, play the music,” he says. “And [for] the people that are coming to experience African culture for the first time, I want them to leave knowing that they’re never going to forget this.”

Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSG Entertainment) had revenue of $142.2 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30, down 3% year over year, as it started its first full fiscal year as a standalone live entertainment company.

MSG Entertainment, which spun off from MSG’s Sphere and MSG Networks businesses in April, had lower event-related revenue and faced a tough comparison to the prior-year quarter. Not only did the prior-year quarter benefit from some concerts that were rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Madison Square Garden enjoyed a 15-show run from Harry Styles from Aug. 20 to Sept. 21, 2022, that grossed $63.1 million from 277,000 ticket sales, according to Billboard Boxscore. 

The company saw “significant” merchandise spending from Styles’ fans at those shows, said Dave Byrnes, MSG Entertainment executive vp/CFO, during Tuesday’s earnings call, and per-capita merchandise spending was down last quarter as a result. Fan spending on food and beverage “was up meaningfully” in the latest quarter, however, and MSG Entertainment is seeing “strong in-venue spending from our guests,” he said. 

Strong demand for concerts, also seen in Live Nation’s latest earnings results, will help MSG Entertainment achieve a low double-digit percentage increase in event bookings this fiscal year. The company is getting help from a new generation of musicians who have graduated from smaller buildings in its portfolio to its flagship venue, Madison Square Garden. “This fiscal year, there are a number of acts, including Olivia Rodrigo, Tyler Childers and Niall Horan, who previously performed at either The Beacon [Theatre] or Radio City [Music Hall] that will soon headline the Garden for the first time in their careers,” said Byrnes. What’s more, he added, “a number of these first-time acts” are playing multiple nights and experiencing “strong ticket demand for their entire run.”

Beyond the concert business, MSG Entertainment has high expectations for its family shows. The company has 187 planned shows of its Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, up from 181 shows in the prior fiscal year. MSG Entertainment expects paid attendance of about 1 million, bringing the holiday run back to pre-pandemic levels. In addition, Cirque du Soleil’s holiday show is returning after it took the year off in 2022, with 66 shows scheduled across The Theater at Madison Square Garden and the Chicago Theatre. 

“We’re currently on sale with more concerts at our venues than we were at this time last year for the second half of fiscal ’23,” said Byrnes, “and of those on-sales, a majority of those tickets are already sold, and sell-through on those shows is currently up [a] high single-digit percentage as compared to the second half of fiscal ’23.”

MSG Entertainment repurchased about 3.5 million shares during the quarter, including repayment of a delayed draw term loan facility from Sphere Entertainment with 1.9 million shares. About 1.6 million shares were repurchased at $31.20 per share as part of the secondary underwritten offering by Sphere Entertainment in September.

Looking forward to the full year, MSG Entertainment reaffirmed its previous guidance of revenue from $900 million to $930 million and adjusted operating income of $160 million to $170 million. It lowered guidance for operating income to $85 million to $95 million, down from $100 million to $110 million. 

Shares of MSG Entertainment fell as much as 9.8% to $27.55 on Tuesday morning before recovering to $29.09 by midday, a 4.7% decline from Monday’s closing price. 

Fiscal first quarter financial metrics:

Revenue of $142.2 million, down 3% year over year.

Operating loss of $33.4 million, up 196% year over year. 

Adjusted operating loss of $700,000, down from a $11.5 million operating profit. 

Net loss of $50.7 million, up 183% year over year.

Since scoring a pair of left-field slow jam hits in duets with H.E.R. (“Best Part”) and Kali Uchis (“Get You”) six years ago, Daniel Caesar has sidestepped the quest for the male R&B throne and has instead opted to focus on further developing his dedicated community of fans — one that has grown to the size of a sold-out Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night (Oct. 17).

The Grammy winner has come a long way since those controversial comments on race relations and the subsequent backlash, but a sobering, apologetic self-reflection and a string of major career moves kept the Caesar train chugging. In the time since “Best Part” emerged as Freudian’s breakout hit, Caesar found Billboard Hot 100 success as a songwriter for fellow Canadians Justin Bieber (“Peaches,” No. 1 — also with Caesar as a featured artist) and Shawn Mendes (“Monster,” No. 8), launched another acclaimed Grammy-nominated studio effort in Case Study 01, and released collaborations with Common, Brandy, FKA twigs and Omar Apollo.

On Tuesday night, the acclaimed singer-songwriter took over one of the world’s most iconic venues to perform the biggest show of his career thus far. His Superpowers World Tour — a global trek in support of his major label debut album, Never Enough, a stunningly introspective slice of R&B that peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 — is a terrific showcase of musical dexterity.

On the latest stop of his Superpowers Tour, Caesar tore through his lush discography, showcasing impressive vocal endurance and an intriguing yet entrancing approach to staging. Before he hit the stage, however, Grammy-nominated pop&B lothario Omar Apollo sparkled with an energetic set that dripped with sensuality and playfulness. Evoking Michael Jackson one second and Mick Jagger the next, Apollo swaggered through renditions of hits like “Evergreen,” “Tamagotchi” and “3 Boys.” Between a heartfelt tribute to Mexico (“En El Olvido”) and a hilarious streak of frankness — after he flubbed a riff, he quipped, “Oop, my fault!” before seamlessly executing an even harder falsetto riff — Apollo seemed incredibly comfortable in front of the packed arena.

Caesar began his set enclosed in translucent drapery, with a guest appearance from Mustafa the Poet — the pair performed their “Toronto 2014” collaboration — adding to the enigmatic tone of the night. Once he hit “Cyanide,” the drapes fell, revealing a close-up of a humbled Caesar, ready and excited to delight the crowd with a slew of songs off Never Enough, as well as some fan-favorites (“Entropy”) and a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep.” Not one for much banter, Caesar instead channeled his appreciation into a series of moving vocal performances that cast his greatest love songs in the context of the love story between him and his fans.

Here are the five best moments of Daniel Caesar’s Superpowers World Tour at Madison Square Garden:

Caesar in the Shadows

Last month (Sept. 13), Hozier celebrated the ten-year anniversary of “Take Me to Church” — the roaring Grammy-nominated Diamond-certified carnal worship song that shot him to fame — and while that single remains a towering contribution to the 21st-century pop music lexicon, it was just one of countless electrifying moments at Hozier’s Madison Square Garden […]

Three of the largest companies in live entertainment and sports — Oak View Group, Madison Square Garden Entertainment and its sister company Sphere Entertainment Co. — have announced the launch of a new company to manage their top sports and entertainment brand relationships. Crown Properties Collection is tasked with managing many of the companies’ most […]