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      Billy Joel Brings Madison Square Garden Residency to an End

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      There’s a pause before Billy Joel steps onstage each night when he makes the subtle transition from low-key Everyman to world-renowned Piano Man. It’s just a few minutes of “not talking to anybody, not seeing anybody,” he said, mimicking waving off potential distractions. He makes sure he can hit his high notes. Then the roar of the crowd does the rest.“When you walk onstage and they go ‘ye-ahhhhhh,’ that psyches you out,” he added, bellowing into his computer during a video call from his Sag Harbor, Long Island home. “You can’t get yourself there without that happening.”On Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, that screech was supercharged, as a crowd of nearly 19,000 welcomed its hometown hero for the 104th and final concert of a historic monthly residency. For 10 years — minus a lengthy pause for Covid shutdowns — Joel has regularly sold out the Manhattan arena with a show featuring hits and deep cuts from his pop albums released from 1971 to 1993. In February, “Turn the Lights Back On,” his first new song in nearly 20 years, joined the set list.Joel, 75, promised to keep the show running as long as there was demand. “The demand never stopped,” Dennis Arfa, his agent, said in a phone interview. So an end was selected: his 150th gig at the venue overall. In total, the run grossed more than $260 million with attendance nearing two million, according to the trade publication Pollstar.“I never said I wasn’t going to perform anymore,” Joel made clear in the first of two interviews, this one at his Oyster Bay, Long Island estate in January. (He already has six stadium dates on the books through November.) While his fans went into overdrive as the finale approached — exhibits at the Garden and the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, a SiriusXM radio station devoted to his music, a major spike in ticket prices on StubHub, merch galore — Joel, in his typical manner, was more relaxed.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Scenes From Billy Joel’s Final Night of His Madison Square Garden Residency

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      Billy Joel performed the final show of his 10-year residency at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, his 150th performance at the venue overall and the most for any performer there. The Times was on hand to capture the moments leading up to the concert, which amounted to a victory lap.Joel and his band after soundcheck on Thursday afternoon, hours before the performance.At soundcheck, Joel went over a setlist that drew from his five-decade career.Joel’s daughters Della and Remy joined him onstage after soundcheck.One fan opted to play Billy Joel songs outside the arena.Fans posed for photos inside the arena …… and outside, too.Concertgoers were encouraged to write messages for Joel. A banner to celebrate Joel’s 150th performance at the Garden was raised during the concert. More

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      For Billy Joel Fans, a New York Night to Remember

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      Thousands of people piled into Madison Square Garden on Thursday to hear Billy Joel’s catalog of hits in the final show of his long residency at the arena.Lori Umbrino saw her first Billy Joel concert at Shea Stadium in Queens in 1990. More than three decades later, she stood with her two children outside Madison Square Garden on Thursday evening, each wearing a T-shirt from the singer’s concerts across the years.“We’ve been there with him along the journey,” said Ms. Umbrino, 51, whose shirt was from Mr. Joel’s 100th concert at Madison Square Garden on July 18, 2018, designated Billy Joel Day in New York State.That journey has led them back to Madison Square Garden, where Mr. Joel was performing the 150th and final show of his 10-year residency there.The milestone — and, for some, the devastating misunderstanding that Mr. Joel was retiring — drew veterans of his shows, first-timers, families and singles from around the city and the country. Thousands of people piled into the Garden to hear Mr. Joel glide from hit to hit.Stuart Stephenson sat outside the arena at 34th Street and Eighth Avenue, blowing into his melodica, fingering the keys to play “New York State of Mind” and “Uptown Girl.” Fans and commuters streamed by, hawkers sold T-concert shirts, and drivers planted their hands on their horns.Mr. Stephenson saw a news segment on Thursday morning about Mr. Joel’s concert, and thinking the Piano Man was closing his Steinway for good, he rushed into Midtown.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Suicideboys Don’t Care for the Music Biz. They Got Its Attention Anyway.

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      The rap duo’s raw songs and festival-like touring strategy has paid off: Its latest album opened at No. 5 without traditional industry strategies or support.The Louisiana rap duo Suicideboys have avoided nearly all the trappings of the contemporary music machine. They rarely grant interview requests and make the occasional public appearance with their faces partially covered. Still, Scott Arceneaux Jr. (known as Scrim) and Aristos Petrou (a.k.a. Ruby da Cherry) recently celebrated their biggest opening week on the Billboard chart yet: a No. 5 debut for their fourth album, “New World Depression,” last month.“It’s kind of hard, dude,” Arceneaux, 35, said of dealing with their ever-growing visibility as one of the biggest independent rap groups in the United States. “It’s taken on a life of its own.”Over the last decade, a passionate and adoring fan base has been drawn to Suicideboys’ blend of Southern rap rhythms and pop-punk melodies, all cloaked in the lush, depressive fog of internet-native hip-hop. They became underground heroes by making raw music about triggering subjects, which they relentlessly promoted on their own until their fan base snowballed into a force the music industry couldn’t ignore.In 2021, on the strength of an audience they’d bootstrapped since 2014, they signed an eight-figure distribution deal with the Orchard, a Sony Music subsidiary, that was re-upped last year. Their semiannual Grey Day Tour — a mini-festival that’s featured similarly ascendant peers like the hardcore band Turnstile and the Florida rap aesthete Denzel Curry — has catapulted them onto the list of rap’s highest-grossing touring acts, taking in over $42 million and selling 431,000 tickets in 2023.Video chatting on the day of their new album’s release, the pair were nestled in a room speckled with soundproofing materials at one of their properties deep in the Florida panhandle, their home outside of New Orleans. Petrou, with waves of dark hair cascading from under a backward baseball cap, spoke casually and with curiosity, positioned in the background, while Arceneaux often sat half-profile at the forefront, slightly bowing his bowl-cut mullet when he wasn’t speaking thoughtfully about their journey so far.As cousins who grew up separately in the greater Louisiana area before coming together in New Orleans, Arceneaux and Petrou described their upbringings as chaotic. “Childhood was rough,” Arceneaux admitted. “There was always drama,” Petrou agreed. “Our parents would get into it. We’ve always remained close and very rarely let the family dynamic infect our relationship.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      He Wrote Michael Jackson’s ‘Human Nature’ and Has 2 More in the Vault

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      Steve Porcaro of Toto, who played on some of the biggest hits of the ’80s, has sold the rights to his music, including a pair of unreleased tracks with the superstar.After more than four decades, Steve Porcaro is still amazed that his song ended up on the biggest-selling album of all time.In 1982, when he was a keyboardist in Toto — the band of studio insiders that dominated rock radio with sleekly crafted hits like “Africa” and “Hold the Line” — Porcaro was tinkering with a new tune, a mid-tempo ballad inspired by his attempt to comfort his young daughter after a playground quarrel. The rest of the group wasn’t into it.But Porcaro kept working on the song at the studio of his Toto bandmate David Paich, the group’s primary songwriter, who was pitching Quincy Jones some rock-oriented material for Michael Jackson’s next album. One day, they put two of Paich’s songs on a cassette for Jones; on the flip side was a rough demo of Porcaro’s ballad.When Jones heard that tape, it was Porcaro’s tune that entranced him, with its mellow mood and searching chorus: “Why, why?/Tell her that it’s human nature.” With lyrics added by John Bettis, “Human Nature” became a key cut on “Thriller,” which sold 34 million copies in the United States alone and transformed pop music in the 1980s.“It was a total, absolute fluke,” Porcaro recalled in a recent video interview from his home studio in Los Angeles, which is lined with gold and platinum albums by Toto and Jackson.“Human Nature” is now part of the latest in the music industry’s big catalog transactions. This week, Porcaro signed a deal, estimated in the low eight figures, to sell the rights to his music to the Jackson estate and the independent music company Primary Wave, they confirmed.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Chappell Roan Booked a Tour. Then She Blew Up.

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      In September 2023, Chappell Roan opened the tour for her debut album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” in Sacramento at the Goldfield Trading Post, a venue that holds 600 people.Last Friday night in Seattle, she held court before a festival crowd of 10,000 at the Capitol Hill Block Party. And lately, 10,000 is a small crowd for the rising pop star.The narrow street where the event is held couldn’t contain all the fans who arrived in glittery pink cowboy hats — a homage to Roan’s song “Pink Pony Club,” about dancing at a gay bar — so those without tickets camped out at an adjacent gas station and sang along to synth-pop hits like “Good Luck, Babe!” and “Hot to Go!,” both of which have been climbing Billboard’s Hot 100 in the past six weeks.The last few months have been transformative for Roan, 26, who released her first EP in 2017, was dropped by her label in 2020 and then began a fruitful collaboration with the songwriter and producer Daniel Nigro (Olivia Rodrigo, Sky Ferreira). Since she looked directly into the camera at the Coachella festival in April and declared, “I’m your favorite artist’s favorite artist,” she has seemingly been everywhere — on TikTok, YouTube, talk shows, NPR’s Tiny Desk.Chappell Roan onstage at the Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle last Friday.Fans in the front row celebrating the “Midwest Princess.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      John Mayall, Pioneer of British Blues, Is Dead at 90

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      Mr. Mayall was best known for recruiting and polishing the talents of one gifted young lead guitarist after another, starting with Eric Clapton.John Mayall, the pioneering British bandleader whose mid-1960s blues ensembles served as incubators for some of the biggest stars of rock’s golden era, died on Monday. He was 90. The death was confirmed in a statement on Mr. Mayall’s official Facebook page. The statement did not give a cause or specify where he died, saying only that he died “in his California home.”Though he played piano, organ, guitar and harmonica and sang lead vocals in his own bands with a high, reedy tenor, Mr. Mayall earned his reputation as “the godfather of British blues” not for his own playing or singing but for recruiting and polishing the talents of one gifted young lead guitarist after another.“Blues Breakers,” colloquially known as The “Beano” album, featuring Eric Clapton was the debut studio album by the English blues rock band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, was released in 1966.DeccaIn his most fertile period, between 1965 and 1969, those budding stars included Eric Clapton, who left to form the band Cream and eventually became a hugely successful solo artist; Peter Green, who left to found Fleetwood Mac; and Mick Taylor, who was snatched from the Mayall band by the Rolling Stones.A more complete list of the alumni of Mr. Mayall’s band of that era, known as the Bluesbreakers, reads like a Who’s Who of British pop royalty. The drummer Mick Fleetwood and the bassist John McVie were also founding members of Fleetwood Mac. The bassist Jack Bruce joined Mr. Clapton in Cream. The bassist Andy Fraser was an original member of Free. Aynsley Dunbar would go on to play drums for Frank Zappa, Journey and Jefferson Starship.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Duke Fakir, Last Surviving Member of the Four Tops, Dies at 88

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      He sang tenor on hits like “Standing in the Shadow of Love,” “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).”Abdul Fakir, who was known as Duke, the last remaining original member of the Four Tops, one of Motown’s best-selling and most beloved groups, died on Monday at his home in Detroit. He was 88.His family said in a statement that the cause was heart failure.Mr. Fakir sang first tenor with the Four Tops, who were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. The group’s hits not only helped define the “Motown Sound” but also the entire 1960s era of pop.Their classics included the exuberant “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” and the urgent “Reach Out, I’ll Be There,” both of which hit No. 1, along with the barreling Top 10 staples “It’s The Same Old Song,” “Standing In the Shadows of Love” and “Bernadette.”The Four Tops in an undated publicity photo. From left, Mr. Fakir, Levi Stubbs, Obie Benson and Lawrence Payton. Mr. Fakir had first met Mr. Stubbs at a neighborhood football game.Bettman Archive, via Getty ImagesFor a two-year period, the Four Tops worked with Motown’s celebrated songwriting and production team Holland-Dozier-Holland (the brothers Brian and Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier). After leaving the label in 1972, the quartet earned more Top 10 records with “Keeper of the Castle” and “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I Got”).On all the group’s songs, Mr. Fakir’s high, smooth voice added grace to harmonies that supported the baritone lead vocals of Levi Stubbs.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More