Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 11/14/2012 at 9:00 AM Videos

The Popdust Files: concerts, gangnam style, madonna, PSY

Well, we’re likely nearing the end of Psy’s moment in the sun with “Gangnam Style”—the song dropped out of the #1 spot on iTunes for the first time in months recently, and the K-Pop star is already looking forward to his next single and dance. But the good thing about having an instantly recognizable look and an instantly recognizable song, as Psy does, is that you’ll forever be welcome as a guest performer just about anywhere you go, as you can just show up for two to four minutes, do the one thing that everybody knows you for, and get out of the way before your presence becomes irritating.

Psy officially entered this phase of his career last night, as he popped up (almost literally) in the middle of Madonna’s show at Madison Square Garden in New York. Madge gave him a nice lead-in with a mashup of his “Gangnam Style” with her “Give It to Me,” and then Psy emerged from under the stage, to join the Material Girl and all her backup dancers in a rendition of his signature dance. Credit to Madonna for actually knowing all parts of the “Style,” and not over-relying on the horse-riding parts of it—and actually, that “Give” / “Gangnam” mashup actually sounds pretty good, if we could get an mp3 of that somewhere.

Funny to see Psy performing with a significantly older performer, too. Not often that Uncle Psy is gonna be the Hot Young Thing between a duo. Watch here—the first is better footage but abbreviated, while the second is the full performance.