It was a Triumph! Literally.
hears that Madison Square Garden gave Billy Joel a ’78 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle as gift to mark Thursday night’s final show in his decade-long residency. 1978 was the year he first played the venue.
Joel concluded his record-breaking run, which has seen him play a total of 150 shows at the world-famous venue, with a show that included tributes from Jimmy Fallon, a guest spot by Axl Rose and audience members including Bill Clinton.
But we’re told that as part of the celebrations, the venue gave Joel — a certified motorcycle nut — the special machine.
The bike is custom painted with piano keys, his signature and the MSG logo on the gas tank, and it cames with a helmet painted with every date he’s played there.
We’re told the bike even made a cameo during the final show, when a camera flashed it up on the big screen while the Piano Man performed “You May Be Right.” (Which, of course, features the two-wheeled lyric “Even rode my motorcycle in the rain.”)
Joel owns dozens of bikes, some of which are displayed at his motorcycle shop, 20th Century Cycles, in Oyster Bay, New York. He also seems to have a bit of a thing for European bikes, since he reportedly features British makes like Vincent and Royal Enfields among the metal — so the Brit Triumph should bit right in.
He even recorded a demo for a tune called “Motorcycle Song” in 1982 — the same year he smashed his thumb and dislocated his wrist when a driver pulled out in front of him at a red light while he was riding his bike on Long Island.
He has said of the accident: “There was a big thing in the press, ‘Will he ever play again?’ I was never worried about that — I play rock ‘n’ roll. I’m not [late Russian-American virtuoso] Vladimir Horowitz. I wasn’t that good to begin with. You play with your elbows if you have to — it’s rock ‘n’ roll.”
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