NEW YORK,
March 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --
Billy Joel - Live at Shea Stadium: The Concert, a full-length concert film released by Legacy Recordings on
March 8, has just entered the Billboard Top Music DVD/Video chart at #1.
Available in a 2 CD/1 DVD set as well as a stand-alone DVD and stand-alone Blu-ray Disc (BD), Billy Joel - Live at Shea Stadium: The Concert captures the heart, soul and star-studded magic of Billy's rock party for the ages, the last shows ever at Shea Stadium, the Home of the New York Mets.
Billy Joel - Live At Shea Stadium: The Concert features more than two hours of Billy and his band offering definitive, and often transcendent versions of hits, rarities, deep catalog, personal favorites and crowd-pleasing surprises including once-in-a-lifetime duets with guest artists
Paul McCartney ("I Saw Her Standing There," "Let It Be"),
Tony Bennett ("
New York State of Mind"),
Garth Brooks ("Shameless") and
John Mayer ("This Is The Time") along with exclusive DVD/Blu-ray bonus performances with
Steven Tyler ("Walk This Way"),
Roger Daltrey ("My Generation") and
John Mellencamp ("Pink Houses").
As the last performer to play the legendary Shea Stadium,
Billy Joel rocked a combined audience of 110,000 people on
July 16 and 18, 2008. His two Shea shows selling out in a record-breaking 45 minutes, the
Bronx-born
Long Island-raised
New York native became the only artist ever to have performed at Yankee, Giants and Shea Stadium, the venue that ushered in the stadium rock era with an iconic Beatles performance in 1965.
Billy Joel - Live At Shea Stadium: The Concert provides the full-concert experience excerpted in the acclaimed documentary "The Last Play At Shea," directed by
Paul Crowder and produced by
Nigel Sinclair and
Steve Cohen, in cooperation with
Billy Joel's Maritime Pictures. "I had forgotten how much Shea Stadium meant to me," said Sirius Radio DJ Howard Stern after seeing the film. "It was beautiful. I really, truly loved it!" Watching the crowd at Shea scream along to every word of his songs is a powerful reminder of just how important his music is to many generations of Americans," wrote Rolling Stone in response to Billy's performance at Shea.
A worthy companion to "The Last Play At Shea,"
Billy Joel - Live At Shea Stadium is proving a hit with the music press. Rolling Stone (
March 3, 2011) gave the album a three-star review calling the concerts "amazing" while observing that "Joel filled these 2008 shows with his best songs, including early fan favorites....backed by a massive and energetic band...."
"The hometown boy turns the now-demolished ballpark into a giant piano bar on this '08 farewell show," marveled People magazine (
March 21, 2011) in its three-star review, adding "That 'Piano Man' sing-along is probably still echoing across the heavens."
The acclaimed PBS series Great Performances premiered a special broadcast edition of
Billy Joel - Live At Shea Stadium during the 2011 March Pledge Drive.
Built in 1964, Shea Stadium was the home of the New York Mets for 45 years. Designed as a multi-purpose stadium, Shea became the birthplace of arena rock when the Beatles appeared there
August 15, 1965, establishing the ballpark as a pinnacle venue for rock's biggest names: The Who, The Police, The Rolling Stones,
Bruce Springsteen and others have all played Shea.
Chosen as the last rock act to play the venue,
Billy Joel staged his "Last Play At Shea" concerts on
July 16 and
July 18, 2008, rocking a combined audience of 110,000 fans with one of the most emotionally charged shows ever played at the historic stadium. After 45 years, two New York Mets World Series victories, the arena debut of The Beatles and
Billy Joel's "The Last Play At Shea," the final section of Shea Stadium was torn down in 2009.
"Mr. Joel's music spans the styles of
New York City before hip-hop, from classical Tin Pan Alley to doo-wop to Irish-American waltzes to big-band jazz to soul to rock," wrote
Jon Pareles in the
New York Times review of the Billy's Shea concerts. "But New York itself was often the concert's muse....Mr. Joel's concert presented his
New York City as a place full of romantic possibilities that, like ballparks, won't last forever. He recalled that Shea was built while he was a teenager. 'Now they're going to tear it down,' he mused, 'and I'm still playing.'"
45 years later, after two Mets World Series victories and , the last section of Shea Stadium was demolished in
February 2009 to make way for the new CitiField.
"The Last Play at Shea' was one of the most memorable concerts I have ever performed," said
Billy Joel.
Billy Joel - Live At Shea Stadium
CD - tracklisting
Disc 1
1. Prelude/Angry Young Man
2.
My Life
3. Summer,
Highland Falls
4. Everybody Loves You Now
5.
Zanzibar
6.
New York State Of Mind (with
Tony Bennett)
7.
Allentown
8. The Ballad Of Billy The Kid
9. She's Always A Woman
10. Goodnight Saigon
11.
Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)
12. Shameless (with
Garth Brooks)
13. This Is The Time (with
John Mayer)
14. Keeping The Faith
Disc 2
1. Captain Jack
2. Lullabye (Goodnight,
My Angel)
3. The River Of Dreams/A Hard Day's Night
4. We Didn't Start The Fire
5. You
May Be Right
6. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
7. Only The Good Die Young
8. I Saw Her Standing There (with
Paul McCartney)
9. Take Me Out To The Ballgame
10. Piano Man
11. Let It Be (with
Paul McCartney)
DVD/Blu-ray - tracklisting
1. Prelude/Angry Young Man
2.
My Life
3. Summer,
Highland Falls
4. Everybody Loves You Now
5.
Zanzibar
6.
New York State Of Mind (with
Tony Bennett)
7.
Allentown
8. The Ballad Of Billy The Kid
9. She's Always A Woman
10. Goodnight Saigon
11.
Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)
12. Shameless (with
Garth Brooks)
13. This Is The Time (with
John Mayer)
14. Keeping The Faith
15. Captain Jack
16. Lullabye (Goodnight,
My Angel)
17. The River Of Dreams/A Hard Day's Night
18. We Didn't Start The Fire
19. You
May Be Right
20. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
21. Only The Good Die Young
22. I Saw Her Standing There (with
Paul McCartney)
23. Take Me Out To The Ballgame
24. Piano Man
25. Let It Be (with
Paul McCartney)
DVD/BLU-RAY BONUS PERFORMANCES
Walk This Way (with
Steven Tyler)
My Generation (with
Roger Daltrey)
Pink Houses (with
John Mellencamp)
SOURCE Legacy Recordings
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