The continued spike of COVID cases has caused another New York postponement, as Billy Joel has decided to move his January concert at Madison Square Garden to August. The show, scheduled for January 14 and part of his ongoing residency at the Manhattan venue, will now be performed on August 24.
“Nothing is more important to me than the safety and well-being of my band, crew, and the fans; so due to unfortunate COVID-related circumstances, we made the decision to reschedule the January 14th concert at MSG,” said Joel, who is 72.
Tickets for the rescheduled performance will be valid for the new date in August with no action needed. Those who purchased tickets directly through the venue box office or Ticketmaster can request a refund for the purchase price within a 30 day window.
From Joel’s website:
If you cannot commit to the rescheduled show date, you can request a refund anytime over the next 30 days, beginning today. If a refund is not requested during the allotted time, tickets will automatically be transferred to the rescheduled show date. To obtain a refund for tickets purchased through Ticketmaster, visit your Ticketmaster account page. For refunds on tickets purchased through the Madison Square Garden Box Office, call the MSG Guest Relations department at 212-465-6225.
With the postponement, Joel’s next show at Madison Square Garden, is set for February 12, with further dates on March 24, April 8, May 14, June 10, and July 20 in addition to the newly rescheduled show in August. After a lengthy pause from his regular performances at the venue, Joel returned to the MSG stage in November of 2021. He played again on December 20, but opted to play it safe for January. Other performances on his schedule include stadium shows including a gig at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, sharing a weekend of back-to-back performances with Metallica.
According to statistics tracked by the New York Times, New York is seeing a 7-day average of over 68,000 new cases, dwarfing the record highs reached in last year’s January peak (just over 16,000). The case counts have seen hospitalization numbers rise dramatically and wreaked havoc on live entertainment in the area, though the number of deaths associated with the virus has not seen nearly as steep of a rise.
Event organizers are still being allowed to go on by state and local authorities, in contrast to the near-total shutdown that was in place for much of the last two years, though an increasing number of events have been postponed of late as numbers continue to surge.
Last Updated on January 6, 2022
