Madison Square Garden – known as “The Garden” for short by New Yorkers – is located in the heart of Manhattan. Don’t be fooled by the name: The Garden is not a park, but a gigantic event center that has hosted many well-known rock stars and some of the most important sporting competitions of our time. “The most famous arena in the world”, as it is called by its operators, can be found on Seventh Avenue between 31st and 33rd Street, right next to the large Penn Station bus and train station.
The huge rotunda Madison Square Garden can look back on a long history: It first opened in 1879 at 66 Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street.
Just one year later, the somewhat dilapidated building had to give way to a new “garden” by architect Stanford White. In 1925, Madison Square Garden moved to north Manhattan – the third building was on 50th Street and Eighth Avenue. But Madison Square Garden was not to stay there either, and in 1968 it was relocated to its current location. After extensive renovation work, the arena was ready in 1991. Today, Madison Square Garden fits nearly 20,000 spectators.
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A wide variety of events take place every day in the mighty rotunda: The offer ranges from concerts to sports competitions, television shows, children’s programs, award ceremonies, conferences, and parties.
As the most famous arena in the world, Madison Square Garden has of course also hosted numerous well-known sporting events: basketball, boxing, and ice hockey at its finest can be experienced here. The legendary boxing match between Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier took place in the event house in 1971 – Madison Square Garden did not bring luck to the legendary athlete Ali, however, and he lost to Frazier.
But well-known greats from the music scene also come and go in Madison Square Garden: U2, Bob Dylan, Madonna, Britney Spears, Bruce Springsteen, André Rieu, and Luciano Pavarotti are just some of the stars who have already been on stage here. But Elton John puts them all in the shade: believe it or not, he has performed 60 times in Madison Square Garden and made the crowds riot!
In the “Club Bar and Grill”, which is located on the “Club Terrace”, you can enjoy an exclusive dinner before an event. As the bar is very popular with most guests, reservations are recommended. Another place to dine at Madison Square Garden is the Play By Play Sports Bar. In the bar, you can play video games or watch the current event on huge televisions.
Anyone who has always wanted to take a look behind the scenes of Madison Square Gardens should take part in one of the “All Access Tours” offered daily.
During this one-hour tour, you can visit the changing rooms of the athletes and take a look at the big world of professional athletes. It is particularly interesting to learn how the basketball field is transformed into an ice rink. You can also tour the auditorium and learn about the long history of Madison Square Gardens. The tours usually take place every half hour between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
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Madison Square Garden hosts only world-class sports and entertainment events. Performing here once is the goal of every artist and a real career highlight. But not everyone can fill an arena of this size, as Madison Square Garden’s capacity exceeds 20,000 seats.
To name just a few, Billy Joel, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Prince, Elton John, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé.
However, MGS is of course just as popular with viewers as it is with musicians and athletes. Madison Square Garden tickets can sell out incredibly quickly. The record for the fastest sell-out is currently held by Justin Bieber in 2012. After only 30 seconds all tickets were sold out!
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Madison Square Garden is also known as the “Mecca of basketball” because the New York Knicks are at home here.
Of course, ice hockey fans don’t miss out either, as the MSG is also home to the New York Rangers. So you have a good chance of getting tickets for a home game at the MSG.
The history of Madison Square Gardens goes back 140 years, so you are guaranteed to see a lot of history of the famous arena.
In addition, both the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers call Madison Square Garden their home.
The tour includes:
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