Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG, known colloquially simply as The Garden, has been the
name of four arenas in New York City, United States. It is also the name of the entity which owns the arena and several of the professional
sports franchises which play there. There have been four incarnations of the arena. The first two were located at the Northeast
corner of Madison Square (Madison Ave. & 26th St.) from which the arena derived its
name. Subsequently a new 17,000-seat Garden (opened December 15, 1925) was built at 50th Street and 8th Avenue, and the current Garden (opened February 14, 1968) is at 7th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on
top of Pennsylvania Station. The present arena is informally known
to some by the advertising slogan "The World's Most Famous Arena".
The arena lends its name to the Madison Square Garden Network, a cable television network that broadcasts most sporting events that are held in the Garden, as well as
concerts and entertainment events that have taken place at the venue.
It is controlled by the Madison Square Garden, L.P. subsidiary of
Cablevision.
History
Madison Square Garden derives its name from the park where the first two gardens were located (Madison Square) on Madison Avenue at 26th Street. As the venue moved to new locations the name still stuck, although since 1925
Madison Square Garden has been neither a garden nor on Madison Square.
1879-1890
The location of the first Madison Square Garden (now known as Madison Square Garden I), was at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
The site was formerly occupied by the passenger depot of the New York and Harlem Railroad. When the depot was moved to the what is now the site of
Grand Central Terminal in 1871, the old depot was sold to P.T. Barnum who converted it into "Barnum's Monster Classical and Geological Hippodrome." In 1876 Barnum's
was converted into "Gilmore's Garden," an open air arena named in honor of Patrick S. Gilmore.[1] Gilmore was America's most well-known bandmaster at the time. His most famous
composition was "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."
Finally, Gilmore's Garden was renamed "Madison Square Garden" by William Henry
Vanderbilt and the facility was reopened to the public on May 31, 1879. The first Garden was originally designed for the sport of track
cycling. This is still remembered in the name of the Madison event.
1890-1925
Madison Square Garden II.
The second Madison Square Garden (now known as Madison Square Garden II), also located at 26th and Madison Avenue was designed
by Stanford White, who would later be killed at the Garden's rooftop restaurant on
June 25, 1906 by Harry K.
Thaw allegedly because the murderer's wife, Evelyn Nesbit had been White's mistress
before her marriage. White kept an apartment, site of the famous red velvet swing, in the building.
The new structure was 200 feet by 485 feet of Moorish architecture with a minaret-like tower soaring 32 stories over Madison
Square Park and was the city's second tallest building. The Garden's main hall, was the largest in the world, measured 200 by 350
feet with permanent seating for 8,000 people and floor space for thousands more.
Topping the garden was a statue of Diana, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The original
bronze statue was 18 ft. tall and weighed 1,800 lbs., but spun with the wind. It was placed on top of the tower in 1891, but was
soon thought to be too large by Saint-Gaudens and White, the architect.(It was removed and placed on top of a building at The
World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago - the bottom half was destroyed by a fire after the close of the Exhibition, and the top
half was lost.) In 1893 a guilded, hollow copper, 2nd version of Diana, replaced the original on top of the Garden tower. This
2nd version was 13 ft. tall and is now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and
a copy is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Saint-Gaudens made several
smaller variants in bronze, one of which was on display in the entryway of Madison Square Garden III, and also in a similar
location in the current Garden, MSG IV.
It hosted the 1924 Democratic National Convention, which
nominated John W. Davis after 103 ballots. Afterwards, it was torn down to make way for
the landmark New York Life Insurance Building.
White was a member of the architecture firm McKim, Mead and White which
designed Pennsylvania Station which was torn down to make way for
MSG IV. The firm also designed the James Farley Post Office which is being
proposed as the anchor for the proposed new Pennsylvania Station as well as the proposed MSG V.
1925-1968
1925-26 New York Americans game program cover for hockey at Madison Square Garden
The third garden, now known as Madison Square Garden III, was built on 50th Street and Eighth Avenue by boxing promoter
Tex Rickard and was dubbed "The House That Tex Built." The New York Rangers got their name in a wordplay on Tex's name (e.g., Tex's Rangers). It was built
in 249 days on the site of the city's street car barns. However, the Rangers were not the first NHL team to play at the Garden.
The New York Americans had begun play in 1925 and were so wildly successful at the
gate that Rickard wanted his own team also. The Rangers were founded in 1926 and both teams played at the Garden until the
Americans folded in 1942, the Rangers having stolen their commercial success with their own success on the ice (winning 3 Stanley
Cups between 1928 and 1940). This was the basis for the "Curse" that supposedly prevented the Rangers from winning the
Stanley Cup again until 1994.
While the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
had debuted at the Garden in 1919, the third garden saw large numbers of performances. The circus was so important to the Garden
that when the Rangers played in the 1928 Stanley Cup Finals, the team was forced to play all games on the road (the Rangers won
the series anyway). The circus would continue to perform as often as three times daily, repeatedly knocking the Rangers out of
the Garden at playoff time, throughout the life of the third Garden. Even at the fourth Garden, games would have to begin as late
as 9:00 p.m. to accommodate the circus. The Circus Acrobatics were very dramatic including acts in the Rings as well as on the
high wire and trapeze. One dramatic act which was only performed in the Garden, and not taken on the road with the traveling
Circus, involved Blinc Candlin, a Hudson, New York fireman, who rode his (already antique) 1880s
High Wheel bicycle on the high wire every season for over 2 decades starting in the 1910s and running well through the 1930s.
In 1928 Rickard built "Boston Madison Square Garden." The name got clipped to Boston
Garden.
Boxing was Madison Square Garden III's principal claim to fame. The building exterior in contrast to the ornate towers of the
first two Garden was a simple box. Its most unique feature was its ornate marquee that
was above the main entrance, with its seemingly endless abbreviations (Tomw., V/S, Rgrs, Tonite, Thru, etc) Even the name was
abbreviated: Madison Sq. Garden. On January 17, 1941, 23,190
people witnessed Fritzie Zivic successful welterweight defense against Henry Armstrong. That is the biggest attendance record of any of the Gardens. MSG III was featured
prominently in the 2005 Ron Howard film Cinderella
Man (although exterior montage shots glorified it by placing it against the Times
Square signs on Broadway when it was in fact one block west).
The NHL New York Rangers were a prime tenant of the 50th St. MSG from 1926 to 1968 (1932-33 Team Picture)
It hosted the only indoor bout in the career of Jack Dempsey. It cost $4.75 million to
build; this one hosted seven NCAA men's basketball championships between 1943 and 1950. It also hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 1954 and 1955. Ironically one type of event that was
never held in the 50th St. MSG (except in the movies) was a
national Democratic or Republican nominating convention as neither of these parties met in New York to select their candidates
for President and Vice President of the United States between 1924 and 1976.
The third Garden had poor sightlines, especially for hockey, and fans sitting in the upper deck could count on having some
portion of the ice obstructed, unless they sat in the first row. The fact that there was poor ventilation and that smoking was
permitted often led to a haze in the upper portions of the Garden.
When it was torn down, there was a proposal to build the world's tallest building on its site prompting a major battle in its
Hell's Kitchen neighborhood that ultimately resulted in strict height
restrictions. The space remained a parking lot though until 1989 when Worldwide
Plaza designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill opened.
Madison Square Garden Bowl
Madison Square built an open air arena, the Madison Square Garden Bowl at 48th and Northern
Boulevard in Long Island City in 1932 that could seat 72,000. This was the site
where James Braddock defeated Max Baer for the World
Heavyweight title on June 13, 1935 that was dramatized in the film
Cinderella Man. Braddock was born on West 48th Street in Hell's Kitchen just a few blocks
from the West 49th Street location of MSGIII. Braddock's first come back fight against John "Corn" Griffin was also in the venue. Jack Sharkey and
Primo Carnera also captured the heavyweight crown in the 1930s at the Madison Square
Garden Bowl. All of these fights were presided over by former Athletic/Boxing Commissioner James
Farley and as of 2007 plans are underway to house Madison Square Garden V in the Landmark James Farley Post Office's Annex which is dubbed the Farley Annex.
The bowl was torn down after World War II to make way for U.S. Steel and Ronzoni Macaroni Company factories. They in turn were torn
down and the area is now home to a series of car dealerships.
Antonio Aguilar played there once, Antonio Aguilar is the only hispanic to ever sell
out the Madison Square Garden on six consecutive nights
1968-present
1968 Advertisement showing architect's model of the final plan for the Madison Square Garden Center
complex. The neighborhood is known as
Pennsylvania Plaza.
On February 11, 1968 Madison Square Garden IV opened after
the Pennsylvania Railroad tore down Pennsylvania Station and continued railway
traffic underneath. The new structure was one of the first of its kind to be built above an active railroad system. It was an
engineering feat constructed by R.E. McKee of El Paso, Texas.
Public outcry over the demolished Beaux-Arts structure led to the creation of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The current Garden is the hub of Madison Square Garden Center in the office and entertainment complex formally addressed as
Pennsylvania Plaza and commonly known as "Penn Plaza" for the railroad station atop
which the complex is located.
In 1972, the Garden's Chairman, Irving Mitchell Felt, suggested
moving the Knicks and the Rangers to what was a proposed venue in the New Jersey Meadows (now completed and known as
Meadowlands Sports Complex or Continental
Airlines Arena.) This location now hosts its own NBA team (New Jersey Nets) and
from 1981-2007, the NHL's New Jersey Devils. The NFL's New York Giants were the only established New
York-named team that actually did move there, and they were later joined by the Jets.
Felt's efforts fueled controversy between the Garden and New York City over Real Estate Tax. The scenario again flared in 1980
when a reported threat by the Garden supposed a similar move of popular sports teams in an effort to again challenge property
tax. Efforts were ignored by city leaders.
In 1991, Garden owners spent $200 million to renovate facilities and add 89 suites. The process involved hundreds of
upper-tier seats removed to make way.
In 2004-2005 Cablevision (the Garden's owner) battled with the City of New York over
proposed West Side Stadium which would compete with the Garden. New stadium proposals
halted; and Cablevision announced its own plans to raze the Garden, replace it with high-rise commercial buildings and build a
new Garden nearby.
New arena
As of September 2007, the Garden's current owner, Cablevision, has plans to build a fifth
Garden. If the project moves forward, a new Garden would be built at the western end of the James Farley Post Office/ Farley Annex, on 33rd Street and Ninth Avenue across the street,
which is also eyed for a western expansion of Pennsylvania Station. The James Farley
Post Office is a National Historic Landmark and is named in honor of
former Postmaster General and New York State Athletic/Boxing Commissioner James Farley. The
Farley Garden, which would remain home to the Rangers and the Knicks, would feature wide concourses with stores and restaurants,
luxury boxes with better sight lines for basketball and hockey games, a museum, and a hall of fame. The current Garden would be
torn down to be replaced with office buildings and perhaps a new Penn Station [2].
Present operations
The present Garden hosts approximately 320 events a year but it is best known as the home of the New York Knicks of the NBA and New York Rangers of the NHL. The aforementioned
professional sports teams play their home games in the arena and are owned by the Garden itself. It also hosts New York Liberty (WNBA) home games
(also owned by the Garden), the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and
Bailey Circus when it comes to New York City (although Continental Airlines Arena and
Nassau Coliseum also host the circus each year), selected home games
for the St. John's men's Red Storm (college basketball), the Big East Men's Basketball
Conference Tournament, the annual pre and postseason NIT tournaments, the
NBA Draft, the Millrose Games athletics meet, and almost any other kind of indoor activity that draws large audiences,
such as the 2004 Republican National Convention. It has previously
hosted the 1976, 1980 and 1992 Democratic
National Conventions, and hosted the NFL Draft for many years (now held at
Garden-leased Radio City Music Hall). In 2007, four of the eight home games for
the New York Titans will be played at the garden, with the other four to be
played at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
MSG hosted the 1994 NHL All-Star Game and 1998 NBA
All-Star Game, three WNBA All-Star Games (1999, 2003 and 2006), and a portion of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
Connecticut-based World Wrestling
Entertainment considers it a home arena as well, due to the fact that all generations of the McMahon family, including
Vince McMahon's father and grandfather, have promoted shows at the Garden. MSG has hosted several WrestleMania and SummerSlam events, two Survivor Series events and the Royal Rumble 2000. More
WWE Championships have been won at MSG than any other arena. WWE's strong relationship
with Madison Square Garden prevented competitor World Championship
Wrestling (WCW) from ever having a show at the Garden. [citation needed] In 2005, WWE severed business ties with the arena because WWE felt that
increased rental costs would prevent them from making a profit in the building. However, over a year later, World Wrestling
Entertainment temporarily patched things up with MSG and the hiatus ended with a September
11, 2006 edition of WWE Raw. Though they pulled the
20th installment of SummerSlam, which would have been held at the Garden on August 26,
2007 (It was held at the Continental Airlines Arena), WWE
continues to make occasional appearances at MSG. Though unconfirmed by WWE, the 2008 Royal
Rumble is scheduled to be held at the arena on January 27, 2008.
MSG is also known for its place in the history of boxing. Many of boxing's biggest fights were
held at Madison Square Garden, including many of Joe Louis, the Roberto Duran-Ken Buchanan affair, and the first and second
Joe Frazier-Muhammad Ali bouts. In March 1947, Herbie Kronowitz of
Brooklyn and Artie Levine of Cleveland thrilled a crowd of 12,000 during a 10-round battle between the two Jewish fighters. Levine won the decision, although Kronowitz claimed that while Levine "won the decision. There was
no question that I won the fight." Before promoters such as Don King and Bob Arum moved boxing to Las Vegas, Madison Square Garden was
considered the mecca of boxing. The original 18½' × 18½' ring, which was brought from the second and third generation of the
Garden, was officially retired on September 19, 2007 and
donated to the International Boxing Hall of Fame after 82 years of
service. A 20' × 20' ring replaced it beginning on October 6 of that same year.
Many large popular-music concerts in New York City take place in Madison Square Garden. Particularly famous ones include
The Concert for New York City following the September 11 attacks and John Lennon's final concert
appearance before his murder in 1980. The Garden usually hosts a concert each year on New Years
Eve, with the Knicks and Rangers usually playing on the road.
Many musical acts released seminal live albums recorded at MSG, including Led Zeppelin,
Fania All Stars, Bruce Springsteen,
Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel, Phish, Elton John, Elvis Presley,
Madonna, Mary J Blige, U2, The Rolling Stones, Britney Spears, Shakira, Justin
Timberlake, NSYNC, Cher, Christina Aguilera, The Who, Beyonce, Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, and Barbra Streisand. Other artists, such as
Pearl Jam, Mariah Carey, and O.A.R. and Marc Anthony have released DVDs showing their live
performances at the Garden. Some of these releases, such as by Cream and Michael Jackson, show special anniversary or reunion concerts at the venue. An extensive list of live
performances played at the venue is included below.
The arena is also used for other special events, including Tennis, Circus, and Wrestling events. The New York Police Academy, New York
University and Yeshiva University also hold their annual graduation ceremonies
at Madison Square Garden. It has become the New York site of the annual Grammy Awards
(which are normally held in Los Angeles) and hosted the 2005 Country Music Association Awards (normally held in Nashville).
The Big East Conference men's basketball tournament has been held at MSG every
year since 1983 making it the longest period a conference tournament has been held at a single location.
Seating
Seating in the present Madison Square Garden is arranged in five ascending levels. The lowest one is referred to as
"rink-side" for hockey games or "court-side" for basketball games. Next above this is the First Promenade, followed by the Second
Promenade, First Balcony and Second Balcony. The seats of these five levels originally bore the colors red, orange, yellow, green, and blue, respectively; however, this color scheme has
since been changed, mainly because the "blue seats" had become synonymous with rowdy behavior by fans, particularly those
attending New York Rangers hockey games. It was a common sight for Rangers fans to set
fire to the jerseys of fans from visiting teams, especially those from the New York
Islanders, Boston Bruins, and the Philadelphia Flyers. Rangers fans in the blue seats would defend their home from the invading hordes
of visiting teams' fans at all costs. Fights were constantly occurring, and ushers would often let Rangers fans get their last
punches or kicks in before hauling away the opposing fan. Today, the Garden is not as hostile for opposing fans to visit. The 400
level which used to be known as the "blue seats" still consists of many diehard fans and they are just as passionate as they were
when the seats were colored. Tickets for events at MSG are hard to come by, especially for the New York Rangers who sell out
nearly every single game. For hockey, the Garden seats 18,202; for basketball, 19,763; and for concerts 20,000 center stage, 19,522 end-stage. The arena features 20,976 square feet (1949 m²) of arena floor
space.
Court set for St. John's basketball game
Because all of the seats, except the 400 level, are in one monolithic grandstand, distance from the arena floor is significant
from the ends of the arena. Also, the rows rise much more gradually than other North American arenas, which can cause impaired
sightlines, especially when sitting behind tall spectators or one of the concourses.
Other venues
Today's Madison Square Garden is more than just the arena. Other venues at the Garden include:
- The WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden, which seats between 2,000 and 5,600 for concerts and can also be used for
meetings, stage shows, and graduation ceremonies, and was also the traditional home of the NFL
Draft until 2005, when it moved to the Jacob Javits Convention
Center after MSG management opposed a new stadium for the New York Jets. It also
occasionally hosts major boxing matches on nights when the main arena is unavailable. No seat is more than 177 feet (54 m) from
the 30-foot-by-64-foot stage. There is an 8,000-square-foot lobby at the theater. When the current Garden opened in 1968, the
Theater was known as the Felt Forum, in honor of then president Irving Felt. In the early 1990s, it was renamed the Paramount,
after Paramount Communications (which had previously been known as Gulf &
Western), which then owned the Garden (and, at the time, Paramount Pictures.) The
theater received its next name of The Theater at Madison Square Garden in the mid-90s, after Viacom bought Paramount, and sold the MSG properties to a group consisting of ITT and Cablevision, which each owned 50% of the Garden. In 1997, ITT sold their share to Cablevision,
giving the cable company full control of the venue. On May 17, 2007, the theater received its current name due to a naming rights deal with
Washington Mutual.
- The 36,000-square-foot Expo Center (formerly known as "The Rotunda") is used for trade shows, cat shows, stamp shows, often
in combination with the arena, banquets, and receptions.
- A 9,500-square-foot terrace and two restaurants: the Garden Club and the Play-by-Play.
Other corporate operations
In addition to the Garden itself, Madison Square Garden, L.P. also operates (but does not own) one major sports venue in
Connecticut, as well as two theaters in Manhattan: Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theater.
The Hartford Civic Center, an indoor arena in
Hartford, Connecticut, is home to the Rangers AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, and was run by
MSG until 2007 when Anschulz Entertainment Group took over. The arena also serves as the part-time home of the men's and women's
basketball teams of the University of Connecticut.
Rentschler Field, a stadium in East Hartford, hosts UConn's college football team.
The original plan was to build a larger stadium that would also have hosted the New
England Patriots.
Notable firsts
- February 12, 1879 - The first artificial ice rink in North America opens at the Garden.
- 1902 - The first indoor professional American football game is played.
- 1934 - The first college basketball game at the Garden is played, between the
University of Notre Dame and New York
University.
- February 28, 1940 - Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the
University of Pittsburgh).
- March 19, 1954 - Joey
Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at the Garden in the first
televised prize boxing fight shown in color.
- February 8, 10, 11, 1979 - The Challenge Cup, a
three-game series between the All-Stars of the National Hockey League and the
Soviet National Team took place at the Garden. The Soviets won,
two games to one.
- March 31, 1985 - The World Wrestling Federation (now known as
World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE), presents the inaugural
WrestleMania. The annual event would return to Madison Square Garden in 1994 and
2004 for WrestleMania X and WrestleMania XX,
celebrating the 10th and 20th anniversaries of WrestleMania.
- August 29, 1988 - The WWE presents the first
SummerSlam event. The annual events would return to Madison Square Garden for
SummerSlam 1991 and SummerSlam 1998.
- June 14, 1994 - After 54 years, the New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup at Madison Square Garden. It
is the first time that a Stanley Cup has been won by the Rangers at the Garden.
- June 29, 1997 - The New
York Liberty professional women's basketball team plays its first home game - the first WNBA game to be played at Madison
Square Garden.[3]
- March 1, 2003 - Quinnipiac University defeats the University of
Connecticut 4-3 in the first college hockey game played at Madison Square Garden since 1977.
Historic events
Politics
Throughout its long history, the Garden has been involved in its share of historical events. These events have included famous
political rallies and celebrations.
- Former Republican Party presidential candidate Wendell Willkie led 20,000 African-Americans on June 7, 1943, the largest Civil Rights rally of its time, in demanding equal rights and victory in the war against
Hitler.
Concerts and live performances
Since 1968, Madison Square Garden has been host to a number of concerts and live performances.
Listed in chronological order with name of artist and date of performance
- A twelve-act show dubbed the Winter Festival for Peace took place at MSG on January 28,
1970.
- On August 1, 1971, George
Harrison held his Concert For Bangladesh. This historic event was the
first special benefit concert to raise funds for charity (in this case, the country of Bangladesh, which was at that time in a severe and desperate state). There were two concerts held that day,
with one taking place at 2:30pm and the other at 7:00pm. The show featured artists such as Harrison, Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Bob
Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, and
Klaus Voormann, to name a few. A live album of the concert was released in 1972.
- In June of 1972, Elvis Presley made his first and only appearances in New York City at
the Garden. Elvis played four shows to 80,000 people, which at the time was a record for the venue. A week after the shows an
album of the Saturday evening performance was rushed to release making it the fastest turnaround between a live performance and
its recorded release. To mark the 25th anniversary of Elvis' Garden shows, a recording of the Saturday afternoon performance was
released entitled An Afternoon in the Garden.
- In October 1974, to cap his comeback after his retirement in 1971 Frank Sinatra played
in front of 20,000 fans at the Garden in a show dubbed "The Main Event" that was broadcast nationally and internationally.
- In June 1977 Led Zeppelin performed six sold out concerts at The Garden. The band spent no money on advertising for the gigs,
relying on street demand to sell out the shows. Enough ticket applications were received to sell out a further two nights, had
time permitted.
- In July 1977, English rock band Pink Floyd performed at MSG for the first time in their
then ten year recording career, playing four consecutive sold out nights from July 1 through July 4 on the final North American
dates on their Animals tour. The show on July 1 saw problems between the band and
local lighting technicians, whom they had to use instead of their own lighting crew due to union technicalities, and on July 3
when fans lit off fireworks which disrupted the Pink Floyd's performance. The band (minus Roger
Waters) would not play the venue again until the 1987 A Momentary Lapse
of Reason tour, when the shows ran a lot more smoothly.
- On June 17 1978 reggae
superstar Bob Marley raised the profile of reggae music in America with his performance at
the Garden. In 1980 Marley played two concerts at the venue as the opener of The Commodores;
the performances were sold out, but the Garden was almost empty after Marley's show. The day after Marley, already fatally ill,
collapsed while jogging in Central Park and performed one last concert in Pittsburgh before canceling the tour. Marley died months later of cancer.
- In October 1978 Jethro Tull filmed a concert at this venue on their
Bursting Out tour which aired on television. Some parts were released on the
re-issued Thick as a Brick album and various concert videos. These concerts were
of note as Tull's leader Ian Anderson's friend Tony Williams filled in for
then-Tull bass player John Glascock, who was suffering from ailing health (Glascock would
pass away in 1979).
- During Queen's show in November of 1978 the band had numerous naked women on stage
riding bicycles during their song "Bicycle Race" This stunt attracted considerable media
attention.
- Woodstock '79: a rock concert in honor of the 10th Anniversary of the original
Woodstock Festival.
- On May 14, 1988, the Atlantic Records 40th
Anniversary celebrations were held at The Garden, consisting of a non-stop concert lasting almost 13 hours. Those performing
included Led Zeppelin, Yes, Genesis, Iron Butterfly, The
Rascals, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Foreigner, Paul Rodgers, Bob
Geldof, Booker T. Jones, Wilson Pickett,
The Coasters, The Spinners, Peabo Bryson, Dan Aykroyd, Roberta
Flack, Manhattan Transfer, Debbie Gibson, The Bee Gees, Ruth
Brown, LaVern Baker, Ben E. King, and
Vanilla Fudge.
- Comedian Andrew Dice Clay became the first comic to do two sold out shows in a row
in 1991 in a film entitled Dice Rules.
- In 1993 Luis Miguel became the first Latin artist to sell out at the Garden and received
a special recognition during the middle of the show.
- On Sunday, October 11, 1998, Janet Jackson performed her Velvet Rope concert live on HBO. R&B artist Usher was her opening act, hip-hop star Q-Tip made a guest performance,
and former Secretary of State General Colin Powell made a special appearance.
- Billy Joel played a four-hour concert for New Year's 1999, dubbed 'The Night of Two
Thousand Years." Two songs from this concert were broadcast live on ABC-TV as part of the ABC 2000 news program.
Highlights from the show were also used for the live album 2000 Years:
The Millennium Concert.
- Barbra Streisand set the highest grossing event at MSG with her two "farewell"
concerts on September 27-28, 2000.
- On October 24, 2002 Canadian rock band Rush sold out Madison Square Garden the band's
first tour in nearly six years. The band was awarded on stage from the Recording Industry Association of American for shipments
of 25 million in the United States of America.
- on December 31, 2002 legendary jamband, Phish made their triumphant return to the stage after a 2 year hiatus to a loving MSG
crowd. This would be their last performance at the garden after the band called it quits in the summer of 2004
- On November 25, 2003, Jay-Z
held a concert at the Garden, which would later be the focus of his film Fade to
Black. This concert was his "retirement party." All proceeds went to charity. Other performers included collaborators like The
Roots (in the form of his backing band), Missy Elliott, Memphis Bleek, Beanie Siegel, Freeway, Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé,
Twista, Ghostface Killah, Foxy Brown, Pharrell and R.
Kelly with special appearances by Voletta Wallace and
