‘Last Play at Shea’

After Major League Baseball trotted out a galaxy of stars, both past and present, at its Midsummer Classic last week at Yankee Stadium, Billy Joel went them one better at Shea Stadium on Friday, July 18 in the final scheduled rock concert at the soon-to-be-demolished venue.
In addition to delighting the crowd with a cross-section of his own catalog, playing such favorites as “Allentown,” “My Life,” “The Entertainer,” “Captain Jack,” “Piano Man,” “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” and the lyrically-challenging “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Joel was joined on stage by a coterie of A-list guest stars that left the 63,000 lucky attendees awestruck.
The elegant and timeless Tony Bennett strolled on stage to share the vocals on “New York State of Mind.” Country & Western star (and baseball enthusiast) Garth Brooks came on a bit later to sing “Shameless.” Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler upped the tempo with “Walk This Way” and Roger Daltrey of The Who continued the procession of crowd-pleasing surprises with “My Generation.”
Those were just appetizers. The main course was a paean to the two performances by The Beatles at Shea in 1965 and ’66, which brought rock ’n’ roll into the large sports stadia realm for the first time. Bringing the 45-year history of the stadium full circle during the encore portion of the three-hour-and-fifteen-minute show, Joel was joined on stage by Sir Paul McCartney of The Beatles who performed “I Saw Her Standing There” on guitar and “Let It Be” on the piano to fittingly close the show.
The 59-year-old Joel, battling to stay cool all night in 90-degree temperatures and the heat of the stage lights, created a marvelously intimate musical tableau in the cavernous circular stadium with his engaging repartee between songs, a crystal-clear sound system and a Jumbotron video-screen set-up which afforded the mostly older crowd with a fine viewing experience, even from the nosebleed seats.
Although never a regular stop on the long list of area rock concert locales, Shea has nevertheless hosted its share of headliners over the years including The Police, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones in 1989 for a six-night engagement.
In the shadows of the new and resplendent Citi Field under construction beyond the outfield walls, there could hardly have been a more deserving and distinguished guidon bearer of New York City’s musical legacy from its memorable past, moving forward to a bright future, than Long Island’s own Entertainer par Excellence, Billy Joel.