Las Vegas casino-hotels long ago carved out a healthy tourist industry from installing popular artists in long runs. Elvis will always be the King, of course, but in recent years, residencies by artists such as Celine Dion, Motley Crue, Britney Spears, and Carrot Top have been an incentive for tourists to pack up and fly to town. (Okay, maybe not Carrot Top.)
Now New York City's esteemed Madison Square Garden is testing the residency model on the East Coast. Piano man Billy Joel, 64, who lives on Long Island, has signed on to do a monthly gig at the arena.
For him, it's a way to ease back into regular performance without the "schlep" (as he says) of traveling to other cities. For tourists, it's another reason to plan ahead for a trip to Manhattan.
The residency begins in January 2014, and the first four months of gigs are already sold out and fetching high prices on the secondary market.
Tickets, which start at $64.50, are sold via TheGarden.com as additional dates are added.
