On this day in music history…
In 1984, Michael Jackson was shooting a commercial for Pepsi at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Three thousand fans were in attendance, watching Jackson as he performed an altered version of “Billie Jean” on stage. It was during the sixth take that something went wrong; the pyrotechnics went off too early, lighting Jackson’s hair on fire. He was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and then transferred to the burn center at Brotman Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for severe burns.
In 2014, Billy Joel played to a sold-out crowd in the first of a series of monthly concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York. The historic residency at the Garden would go on to last another 10 and a half years, ending in July 2024.
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