Madison Square Garden - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

• In 1972, Ricky Nelson reached the Top 40 one last time with "Garden Party", a song he wrote in disgust after a Madison Square Garden audience booed him, because, in his mind, he was playing new songs instead of just his old hits. When he performed the Stones' "Honky Tonk Woman" he was booed off the stage. He watched the rest of the performance on a TV monitor backstage and quietly left the venue without taking a final bow for the finale.
• As an iconic figure, Madison Square Garden has made various appearances in film and television programs. It was featured in the 1979 Robert Redford film The Electric Horseman. Madison Square Garden is featured in the opening scenes of Highlander (1986), which included footage of former tag team The Fabulous Freebirds. (It is worth noting, however, that only the exterior was used; the interior shots were from the then Brendan Byrne Arena). The Garden's marquee is seen in the 1984 comedy film, Top Secret! advertising a concert by the protagonist, Nick Rivers. In 1988, it featured scenes in the comedy hit Coming to America.
• In the film Soylent Green set in an overpopulated New York of 2022, the Garden has been transformed into a government-run assisted suicide facility.
• A boxing scene in Batman: The Animated Series takes place in a venue called "Gotham Square Garden".
• Madison Square Garden was the "nest" for the carnivorous Godzilla babies and was later destroyed by F/A-18s in the Americanized version of Godzilla (1998). Madison Square Garden was featured in the films Glitter, Forget Paris, Finding Forrester, and the Adam Sandler remake of Mr. Deeds. In Paternity, Burt Reynolds plays the manager of the Garden. In Forget Paris, Billy Crystal (himself a New Yorker) pays an NBA Referee who works a game at the Garden.
• In the movie Rocky III, the rematch between Clubber Lang and Rocky Balboa is in the Garden.
• Pearl Jam recorded their July 8, 2003, performance at the Garden and released it as the Live at the Garden DVD.
• The Wings song, "Rock Show" mentions the arena in the chorus of its lyrics, If there's a rock show at The Concertgebouw/They've got long hair at the Madison Square....
• Led Zeppelin's 1976 concert movie The Song Remains The Same was filmed during the band's three-night concert series at Madison Square Garden in 1973, which also provided the soundtrack to the film.
• The American sitcom Friends has used shots of Madison Square Garden several times. In the episode The One with George Stephanopoulos, Chandler, Joey, and Ross go to see a Rangers game, in The One with the Late Thanksgiving, Joey and Ross are late to Thanksgiving dinner because they go to see a Rangers game and in The One Where Rachel's Sister Baby-Sits Mike proposes to Phoebe on the big screen during a Knicks game. The Garden was also frequently featured on Seinfeld, as characters sporadically attended Rangers or Knicks games; David Puddy's face-painting as a fan of the New Jersey Devils features the infamous Blue seats.
• The 1996 film Eddie, starring Whoopi Goldberg, in which die hard Knicks fan Edwina Franklin (Goldberg) becomes the coach of the team, takes place at Madison Square Garden. Interior scenes were filmed inside the Charlotte Coliseum, which was re-dressed to look like the MSG interior.
• The arena has also made various appearances on television. The television series Futurama, set in the year 3000, features "Madison Cube Garden" which appears like a cube standing on one partially buried corner.
• One of the concert venues in the video game Rock Band is a fictitious New York concert hall called "Empire Square Garden", a clear reference to The Garden.
• In the anime Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, the character Ryohei Sasagawa, obsessed with boxing said he always saw stars and the Madison Square Garden, even when it was the afternoon.
• Madison Square Garden was also featured in Madonna's 2005 CD/DVD I'm Going to Tell You a Secret. The DVD is a documentary that follows Madonna on her 2004 Re Invention Tour. It was also featured in Madonna's 2009 CD/DVD/BLU-RAY disc Sticky & Sweet Tour.
• The demolition of Penn Station to make way for Madison Square Garden was featured in the Mad Men season three episode "Love Among the Ruins".
• Scenes in both the romantic comedies Hitch and How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days take place at Madison Square Garden during a Knicks basketball game.
• The Garden was also featured in the Spider-Man 2 video game where the player is allowed in temporarily to complete an obstacle course.
• A scene from the pilot episode of the CBS series Blue Bloods was filmed inside and outside of the Garden during Jamie's graduation ceremony.
• In Little Nicky, starring Adam Sandler, the Harlem Globetrotters play at the Garden and the referee is Nicky's brother.
• The Madison Square Garden marquee is world famous in its own right as it is featured on television coverage of sporting events played inside.
• In the ending of the film Lemonade Mouth, the band is shown playing in Madison Square Garden.
• The Garden was the location of the teen sensations Jonas Brothers' 3D Concert Experience, Justin Bieber's Never Say Never and SMTown's I AM. concert films.
• The Garden was featured as a backdrop in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother. Robin's long-lost friend, Jessica, plays the Garden organ during a Rangers game. However, the real Garden organist would never play Let's Go Band during a Rangers Game.
• In early 2011, Lady Gaga filmed a 'fly on the wall' documentary for HBO following her life and featured a performance at MSG of her Monster Ball Tour.