Olivia Rodrigo surprises fans at Billy Joel’s latest MSG concert

Billy Joel found a new “Uptown Girl” — one who was born long after that classic 1983 single became one of his biggest hits — at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

That would be Olivia Rodrigo — the 19-year-old pop sensation — who famously name-checked the Piano Man in her 2021 hit “Deja Vu”: “And I bet that she knows Billy Joel/‘’Cause you played her ‘Uptown Girl’/You’re singing it together.”

And, fittingly, Rodrigo joined Joel to sing both “Deja Vu” and “Uptown Girl” for some in the audience who were old enough to be her grandparents. But  there were surprisingly more people in the crowd who knew the words to sing along to “Deja Vu” than you might have expected. Meanwhile, Joel smiled and nodded approvingly from his piano bench.

As bittersweet of a breakup song as “Deja Vu” may be, it was all love between Rodrigo and Joel, as the giddy young star made a surprise appearance during the latest of the New York legend’s concerts in his monthly residency at MSG.

“I love her music — and so do my kids,” said Joel from his revolving piano as he introduced the three-time Grammy winner. And after letting Rodrigo have all of the spotlight on “Deja Vu,” Joel got up from his piano and joined her for an “Uptown Girl” duet that was fizzy fun. It proved just how much the 73-year-old’s music transcends generations.

It was the latest in a string of surprise guests — from Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi to Tony Bennett and Miley Cyrus — who Joel has welcomed since starting his Garden residency in January 2014. And certainly this one ranks among the most surprising of them all.

But it was also pretty ironic that Joel was embracing — and being embraced — by one of the hottest young artists in the middle of Harry Styles’ 15-show run at the Garden, which kicked off last Saturday. It was almost as if he was letting New York know that he wasn’t about to be the irrelevant old guy in his own house.

“I’d like to thank Harry Styles for taking the night off, so we can kind of squeeze in here,” he said cheekily.

Joel then went on to thank the crowd for waiting two years for this COVID make-up show that was postponed from 2020.

“I don’t know if I would do that for me,” he said. “Anyway, it’s good to be back at the Garden. We’re the house band now.”