Madison Square Garden now has its own headliner.
“Piano Man” Billy Joel has agreed to do monthly concerts at The World’s Most Famous Arena — for as long as fans want to listen, officials said Tuesday.
It’s the first Las Vegas-style music franchise agreement in its history.
“Having you as our music franchise feels like having the pope as your priest,” MSG executive chairman James Dolan told Joel in making the announcement.
Joel is already booked for sold-out Garden shows on Jan. 27, Feb. 3, March 21 and April 18.
MSG announced a performance has been added for May 9, Joel’s 65th birthday, and monthly gigs will be scheduled “as long as there is demand.”
Tickets for the May 9 show go on sale to Citibank credit card holders on Wednesday. The general public gets its crack at ducats on Saturday.
Prices for that May show range from $64.50 to $124.50.
“I have to live up to these words and I hope I don’t let you down,” said Joel, a native of Hicksville, LI.
“I dreamed of playing the Garden, but it’s more than that. Madison Square Garden is New York to me. There’s no better venue in the world. I’m getting a lot of credit about how great I’m supposed to be. But a lot of it is from the audience.”
Joel has played MSG 46 times, going back to 1978.
He did 12 consecutive Garden shows in 2006, which was credited as MSG’s “longest run of a single artist,” the arena said.
As long as Joel limits his shows outside New York, fans from Allentown to Hollywood will go to extremes to see him at MSG, an industry analyst said.
“I could see this going a couple years if Billy wanted to,” said Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of concert-industry trade mag Pollstar.
“In addition to the New York metropolitan market, if this becomes a well-known residency, it’s one more thing you can add to your list when visiting New York — much like a Broadway show.”
Gov. Cuomo attended the announcement for his pal Joel, who was set to play in the governor’s fund-raiser Tuesday night at the Roseland Ballroom.
The governor joked about MSG’s massive facelift that thankfully — from his point of view — didn’t require state funds.
“It’s a pleasure to be back at the Garden. They invested $1 billion into the Garden. The really good news is that none of it was my money,” Cuomo said.
“How fitting is it then, that a New York icon now joins another New York icon and that’s what MSG joining Billy Joel represents.”