Charlie Puth Turned Madison Square Garden Into a Study of Influence

Charlie Puth sold out Madison Square Garden on Friday night and turned the whole thing into something closer to a seminar on taste. The tour behind his fourth album, Whatever’s Clever!, already made a point of stripping away every standard pop show convention. No choreography. No stage gimmicks. Just a band with serious chops stretching songs open for jazz chords, funk bass, and solos that were allowed to breathe. But the New York date went further.

Puth assembled a guest list that only he would think to put on the same bill. Art Garfunkel. Jimmy Fallon. Busta Rhymes. Kirk Franklin. The throughline, as Puth told the crowd from under a Knicks cap he wore all night, was influence. “Each person I’m gonna bring up tonight has influenced me musically.” That word, influence, got tested in real time.

Garfunkel came out early for a version of “The Boxer,” joined by his longtime guitarist Tab Laven. The performance had moments of shakiness, but that only sharpened the weight of it, especially when Garfunkel carried part of the third verse alone. Puth stood nearby and said, “I’m your student.” A little later, Jimmy Fallon walked on in shades for a cover of Toto’s “Africa,” a choice that locked neatly into the yacht-rock sensibilities of the new album. Fallon then introduced Busta Rhymes, who promptly took over the room. Puth and his band fell into position as a backing unit while Busta tore through a medley that ended with the verse from Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now,” delivered at full speed with unnerving precision. He paused midway to note the energy in the city with the Knicks heading to the finals.

Toward the end, Puth sat at the keys and walked through some gospel chord changes, explaining what the tradition means to his songwriting. That brought out Kirk Franklin, who led the band through “I Smile,” his own “Lean on Me,” and “Stomp,” the Funkadelic-sampling track he wrote for God’s Property. The segment made clear how much of Puth’s rhythmic and harmonic vocabulary traces back to church music, even when the context shifts.

The rest of the set showed why Whatever’s Clever! works on stage. Puth’s band includes Pastor Funk, the bassist who played on the record, and older hits like “Attention” and “Cheating on You” were rearranged to crack open space for instrumental breaks. “You don’t always have to do it in the same way,” Puth said. “But you keep the heartbeat of it.” For an artist who grew up nearby in suburban New Jersey, the night landed as a homecoming and a marker. He addressed that directly near the close. “It hasn’t been perfect in my career. A lot of peaks and valleys. But all of this makes it all worth it.”