“His music is our best friend for our whole life,” comedian said. “I don’t even think he can understand how much his music means to us being from where we are.”
Thursday night marked Billy Joel’s 100th concert in his soon-ending Madison Square Garden residency, and to mark the occasion, Jerry Seinfeld came onstage to honor the Piano Man.
Calling the long-running MSG residency “a beautiful medallion on this career that he’s had,” Seinfeld talked about their shared roots on Long Island and what his music means to people hailing from the area.
“There’s three things that make Billy a genius of music: The voice, the music, the writing of the most beautiful songs,” Seinfeld told the sold-out crowd. “But there’s another thing about Billy that makes him so unique and so special. It’s that we captured how we all feel living in this particular part of the world, Long Island [and] New York.”
The comedian continued, “He is like the companion that we have gone through our whole lives with. His music is our best friend for our whole life. I don’t even think he can understand how much his music means to us being from where we are.”
Seinfeld then led the presentation of a banner placed in the rafters of Madison Square Garden celebrating Joel’s 100th residency show, a gig that was also filmed for an upcoming concert special that will air April 14 on CBS. Joel then thanked Seinfeld for the kind words, as well as buying his house.
The Seinfeld star wasn’t the only guest on hand for the special show: As they’ve done on their joint One Night Only concerts, Sting joined Joel onstage to duet on “Big Man on Mulberry Street” and the Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.”
Joel’s MSG residency will come to an end in July 2024, a concert that will also double as the Piano Man’s 150th overall gig at the World’s Greatest Arena. The Madison Square Garden residency launched in January 2014, with Joel playing at least one show every month at the arena over the next decade (except during the Covid pandemic and a few shows postponed by medical issues).