Dear listeners,
Madison Square Garden is having quite a summer.
On June 10, it was the hallowed site of an instantly iconic New York sports miracle when the Knicks pulled off the largest comeback in N.B.A. finals history and took Game 4 from the San Antonio Spurs. Now, not even a month later, Taylor Swift is reportedly planning … some sort of event at the Garden later this week. Might it be a wedding? A reception? An elaborate ruse to draw attention away from the spot where a wedding might be taking place? No matter what, all eyes are on the World’s Most Famous Arena. This calls for a playlist.
Playing Madison Square Garden for the first time is a milestone in any musician’s career, and even the most seasoned performers still consider a gig there to be something special. That means it’s been the site of plenty of great live album recordings, like Led Zeppelin’s towering “The Song Remains the Same,” Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s mid-career return to form “Live in New York City,” and Johnny Cash’s straightforwardly titled “Johnny Cash at Madison Square Garden,” recorded in 1969, just a year after the current arena* opened its doors.
Today’s playlist is entirely culled from live albums recorded at the Garden — including songs from a few names who have earned banners in its rafters. Listen to it in sequence and pretend you’re at a concert with an incredibly stacked and absurdly eclectic bill.
I never said I was a victim of circumstance,
Lindsay
*That venue is actually the fourth to bear the name. The first Madison Square Garden opened in 1879, on a site leased to P.T. Barnum. Subsequent Gardens opened in 1890 and 1925; all have since been demolished.
Listen along while you read.
1. Johnny Cash: “Five Feet High and Rising (Live)” (1969)
“It’s good to be with you in New York again,” Johnny Cash says in this recording of a December 1969 concert, released in 2002 as the album “Johnny Cash at Madison Square Garden.” With his performance of “Five Feet High and Rising” — a song he wrote about the Mississippi River flood that forced Cash and his family to flee their home when he was just 4 years old — he and his band, chugging as steadily as a locomotive, transport the audience to the flatlands of Arkansas.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
2. Billy Preston: “That’s the Way God Planned It (Live)” (1971)
On Aug. 1, 1971, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar assembled a staggeringly star-studded bill to raise money for war-torn Bangladesh, more or less inventing the modern charity concert in the process. The Concert for Bangladesh featured plenty of marquee moments, including Harrison’s first post-Beatles reunion with Ringo Starr, and Bob Dylan’s first major U.S. performance in nearly five years. But one of the night’s breakout stars was the Hammond organ virtuoso and singer-songwriter Billy Preston, who brought down the house with this rousing rendition of the title track from his 1969 album.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
3. Led Zeppelin: “The Song Remains the Same (Live)” (1973)
Ladies and gentlemen, Jimmy Page! Providing a fascinating snapshot of Led Zeppelin at the peak of its popularity, the live album and cult movie “The Song Remains the Same” was recorded in July 1973 during the band’s three-night stint at Madison Square Garden — for the most part. The filmmakers had great difficulty during the editing process, since the footage had not been synced to the audio tracks, so a year later they had to film pickups of Led Zeppelin miming some of the songs on a film set that had been meticulously transformed into a replica of the MSG stage. Unfortunately, and infamously, the wig that John Paul Jones wore to match his 1973 hairstyle was not quite as convincing.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
4. Barbra Streisand: “I’m Still Here (Live)” (1994)
Following her massive 1967 concert in Central Park, Barbra Streisand developed debilitating stage fright and didn’t tour for 27 years. In 1994, though, she returned to her hometown in grand style with a seven-night residency at — where else? — Madison Square Garden. This triumphant medley nimbly weaves together several Stephen Sondheim numbers with the “Funny Girl” showstopper “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” and finds Babs at her most playfully self-referential. “Songwriting, acting, producing,” she vamps, providing a winking rewrite on the original lyric. “What, does she think she’s a man?!”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
5. Phish: “Reba (Live)” (1995)
In New York City, Phish is to Madison Square Garden what Dick Clark once was to Times Square — trusted annual hosts of a rockin’ New Year’s Eve. This recording of the live favorite “Reba,” a track that blends the band’s penchants for both tightly rehearsed whimsy and improvisational noodling, comes from its third Garden show, on Dec. 31, 1995. Phish has played the Garden a whopping 91 times — more than any other band — and that tally will go up to 96 after a five-show run next month. Though they haven’t yet officially announced a pre-New Year’s residency for this year, it’s likely to happen, and to push that number into the triple digits.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
6. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: “Land of Hope and Dreams (Live at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY — June/July 2000)”
Bruce Springsteen was coming off a decade of solo work when he finally reunited with the E Street Band in 1999, for a well-received 15-month tour that ended with 10 consecutive dates at Madison Square Garden. Most of the tour’s performances closed with what was then a new song, this stirring, sermon-like American anthem, the studio version of which Springsteen wouldn’t release until his 2012 album “Wrecking Ball.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
7. Billy Joel: “My Life (From the 100th — Live at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY-March 28, 2024)”
Finally, we can’t talk about Madison Square Garden without mentioning its unofficial mayor, Billy Joel, who has performed at the venue a record-breaking 150 times. One-hundred and four of those shows were part of his monthly residency, which lasted for 10 years before coming to a close in July 2024. This punchy rendition of his 1978 hit “My Life” comes from the live recording of his 100th residency show, and suffice it to say that when the amount of times you’ve headlined the Garden has reached triple figures, you have officially earned the right to declare, “Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
The Amplifier Playlist
“7 Songs Recorded Live at Madison Square Garden” track list Track 1: Johnny Cash, “Five Feet High and Rising (Live)” Track 2: Billy Preston, “That’s the Way God Planned It (Live)” Track 3: Led Zeppelin, “The Song Remains the Same (Live)” Track 4: Barbra Streisand, “I’m Still Here (Live)” Track 5: Phish, “Reba (Live)” Track 6: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, “Land of Hope and Dreams (Live at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY — June/July 2000)” Track 7: Billy Joel, “My Life (From the 100th — Live at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY-March 28, 2024)”
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