NEW YORK — Billy Joel ended his historic residency at Madison Square Garden on a high note.

The Piano Man entertained a sold-out crowd of fans who snagged the most coveted ticket in New York City on Thursday night with a two-and-a-half-hour set that included surprise appearances from Jimmy Fallon, Axl Rose and his two younger daughters.

The show was the 104th and final installment of Joel’s monthly residency, which he began at the Garden in January 2014, and his record-breaking 150th concert at the famed Midtown Arena.

“It’s time,” Joel told an enthusiastic crowd at the start of the evening. “None of us knew we would last this long. This was the most incredible performance we’ve ever had.”

Joel, 75, began the concert with a rocking rendition of “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” and ended it with a similarly energetic performance of “You May Be Right.”

Fallon joined Joel onstage to raise a blue and white banner reading “Billy Joel: Most lifetime performances by an artist” into the rafters of MSG.

Afterwards, Joel’s 8-year-old daughter Della Rose sang and danced to “My Life” from the top of the stage while 6-year-old Remy Anne sat on the piano.

Rose came on to sing a cover of Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” with Joel before they duetted on AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” At the end of the night, the Guns N’ Roses frontman returned for “You May Be Right.”

The Garden floor shook as the packed crowd danced to “Only the Good Die Young.” Fans sang in unison throughout the night, but never louder than during “Piano Man,” Joel’s fitting final song before he returned for a nearly half-hour encore of five more hits.

A large part of the audience never sat there.

“The first four, five, six songs were totally emotional for me,” said 60-year-old Bill Klingbeil, who traveled from Pittsburgh with his fiancée. “I try to sing along and tears come to my eyes.”

This emotional evening followed the joyful anticipation that began when Joel announced in June 2023 that his residency would end in just over a year.

Demand for tickets was extremely high; in the hours before Thursday’s concert, ticket prices on resale websites such as StubHub and SeatGeek were over $600.

“It wasn’t just, ‘Let me come see Billy Joel.’ You had to really want to come,” said Simmi Degnemark, 55, of Carroll Gardens. “I think it brought in real fans.”

“What I really liked was the fact that you could actually sing and nobody was looking at you. Everyone stood up. Everyone sang. I sang with other people, strangers I didn’t know. We just all sang together. It was so cool. A once in a lifetime experience.”

Many of the diehard fans were regulars who had attended many previous concerts. Jessy Weinberg, 31, of Albertson, Long Island, attended her 10th Joel concert and brought a sign asking Joel to sing at her wedding next year.

“I love his music,” said Weinberg, who came with her sister Lindsay, 27, and her father. “I love him. He puts on such a great show. Interactive. Entertaining. He knows what the audience wants.”

Although an era ended at the Garden on Thursday, Joel will continue to perform. His next concert is scheduled for August 9 in Cardiff, Wales.