Get an alert on show night when it’s time to leave for Madison Square Garden.
Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
Doors open an hour before showtime at most shows.
Show night at Madison Square Garden, New York, New York. Not sure which time on the ticket matters? The concert night plan covers doors, opener and headliner at any venue.
Get an alert on show night when it’s time to leave for Madison Square Garden.
Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
The time on the ticket is when the first act is due on, and at most shows here the doors opened an hour earlier. With a general-admission ticket that gap is not spare: the spot on the floor you get is decided by where you are in the line when the doors open, and everyone with the same idea is on the same walk in. So the plan puts you in that line before doors, and the stretch from doors to showtime is a row of its own.
With a reserved seat the deadline really is the show. Aim to be in your seat ten minutes before the first act, and budget the walk to your row: it is the part people misjudge, not the drive.
Here is the evening drawn to scale. A maps app can number the ride in. The rest is the queue at the door, the screening, and the walk to your row.
Front door to your seat: 1hr 40min
The usual show times here
There is no fixed schedule at a concert venue; the promoter sets each show's time, and these are the ones this one runs most often. Pick the one on your ticket and every step before it moves. Anything else, tap the showtime and type it in.
Doors are an hour before showtime at most shows. The kind that runs differently is a device-free show, where every phone goes into a pouch on the way in; the ones on the calendar now open ninety minutes out rather than sixty. The event page on the official Madison Square Garden site lists doors and showtime; the ticket often lists only one. If your gap is different, edit the settle-in row.
Almost nobody should drive to this one. The Garden is built on top of Penn Station, so the A, C and E and the 1, 2 and 3 put you underneath it at 34th Street–Penn Station, and the B, D, F, M, N, Q and R leave you one block east at Herald Square. PATH from New Jersey stops at 33rd Street and Avenue of the Americas, which is a walk rather than the station below; the Long Island Rail Road and NJ Transit do terminate underneath.
From Metro-North it is the shuttle or the 7 from Grand Central to Times Square, then the 1, 2 or 3 down one stop. NY Waterway runs ferries into Midtown at West 39th with a free shuttle from the pier. Buses M4, M10, M16, M34 and Q32 stop at 7th Avenue and Penn Station. Coming up out of Penn Station is its own small journey: it is a large station with several exits, and the one you want is the one nearest the entrance printed on your ticket.
There is no venue garage. The Garden sits on top of Penn Station between 31st and 33rd on 7th Avenue, and every space near it belongs to a commercial garage; the venue’s own answer is to book one ahead through SpotHero, its official parking app. There is no designated rideshare zone either. Drop-off and pickup happen on 7th or 8th Avenue between 31st and 34th, which is curb the rest of Midtown is also using. Access-A-Ride has a marked stop on 7th Avenue southbound, just north of 31st Street.
Which door you walk to is not yours to choose: your digital ticket names an entrance based on where you are sitting, and the venue asks you to use it. Worth opening the ticket before you leave rather than on the sidewalk, because the doors are on different streets.
There is the 7th Avenue entrance, which is the one that opens into Chase Square, and the lettered Chase entrances around the 8th Avenue side, with C and D at 33rd Street and 8th Avenue. If you have CLEAR, its lane is at the 8th Avenue Chase entrances B and C.
Doors are an hour before showtime at most shows. Everyone goes through screening, and the venue asks you to empty your pockets of keys, wallet and phone and to take off hats, sunglasses and anything covering your face before you reach the screening area.
Bags are the part worth thinking about at home: every bag is x-rayed whatever its size, it has to fit comfortably under your seat, and nothing larger than 22 by 14 by 9 inches is allowed at all. There is no bag check and no coat check, so a bag that fails either test has nowhere to go. Outside food and drink are not allowed. Neither is re-entry, and the venue is blunt about it: all exits are final, so eat before you go in.
Doors, lots and bag rules change; the official site is the live source.
For a general-admission ticket, be in the line before doors, which are an hour before showtime at most shows here. Be there half an hour before they open, and the ticket chip rebuilds the plan around that. For a reserved seat, aim to be at the gate half an hour before the show, which is what the plan above shows. The part to budget for is the queue at the door. Carrying a bag adds about ten minutes to that.
About 6:35 PM from New York with a reserved seat, coming in on public transport, travelling light. Earlier for a general-admission floor ticket or a bag to screen. Every row above is editable; the first travel row is your leave-by time.
There is no venue garage. The Garden sits over Penn Station and the parking around it is commercial garages, which the venue asks you to book ahead through SpotHero, its official parking app. There is no designated rideshare zone; drop-off and pickup are on 7th or 8th Avenue between 31st and 34th, and Access-A-Ride stops on 7th Avenue southbound, just north of 31st. The official Madison Square Garden site is where the current arrangements are posted.
Yes, and it is the reason to leave the car at home. The venue is directly above Penn Station: A, C and E and 1, 2 and 3 to 34th Street–Penn Station, and B, D, F, M, N, Q and R to Herald Square one block east.
PATH stops at 33rd Street and Avenue of the Americas, a walk away rather than underneath, while the Long Island Rail Road and NJ Transit come into the station below. Metro-North connects via Times Square. Buses M4, M10, M16, M34 and Q32 stop at 7th Avenue and Penn Station.
Any bag that fits comfortably under your seat, up to a hard ceiling of 22 by 14 by 9 inches; it does not have to be clear, but every bag is x-rayed whatever its size. There is no bag check and no coat check, so a bag that fails either test has nowhere to go. No outside food or drink, and no re-entry once you are in.
Going to a game instead? The stadium pages. Flying in? The airport pages.
Start the plan in the app, and the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island show the time left, with a bar that fills as each step passes.
Glance at it on the walk in without opening the app.
Every step also gets its own alert, and sharing the plan gives whoever is driving the same leave time, with alerts on their phone.
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Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
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