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Sing us one last song at Shea, Piano Man
2008-07-18
NEW YORK - Billy Joel bid a stirring farewell to Shea Stadium on Friday during a sold-out concert that marked the final show at the same ballpark where the Beatles famously ushered in new era in rock 'n' roll four decades ago. "Good evening, Shea Stadium. Is this cool or what?" Joel told the crowd at the New York Mets' home field, which is to be razed after the baseball season to make way for a new stadium across the street. "They're gonna be tearing this place down, but I wanna thank you ... for letting me do the best job in the world," he said. The show paid homage to Shea's baseball glories, with Mets highlights playing on jumbo screens during "Zanzibar." But the concert also was a mark of the stadium's place in music history. The show came 43 years after the Beatles' legendary show at Shea Stadium -- the first concert at the ballpark. The concert came at the height of Beatlemania and demonstrated the sheer power of rock 'n' roll and the Beatles: 55,000 screaming fans at a U.S. ballpark was virtually unheard-of at the time, and the show gave the Fab Four even more cachet among the Beatle-crazed American public. The "Last Play at Shea" kicked off Wednesday with the first of two Joel shows at the ballpark, and the Beatles and baseball were on full display. Joel played three Beatles songs ("A Hard Day's Night," "Please, Please Me" and "She Loves You") during Wednesday's set, and introduced his signature "Piano Man" with "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." He also played the national anthem to start the show. "I want to thank the Beatles for letting us use their room. Best band that ever was, best band that ever will be," Joel told fans Wednesday. Diane Gentile saw the Beatles play at Shea in 1966 -- their second visit to the stadium after the historic show a year earlier. Her recollection of that summer night 42 years ago: "Oh, my God, there are the Beatles on that stage, and here am I." "It was unbelievable. It was exciting; you could feel the electricity. Right before the concert we were singing `Happy Anniversary' to John because his anniversary was that day," Gentile recalled. On Friday, Gentile was back at Shea to watch Joel for what she predicted would be the best concert she'll ever see. Joel has always strongly embraced his New York and Long Island roots, and that makes for memory-making concerts every time he plays in the city. Throngs of fans know his music so well they can pretty much take over any chorus they like. Joel holds up his end of the bargain. He did a record 12 sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in 2006, and Wednesday's set lasted about three hours. And as if the "Piano Man" playing the last concert at Shea wasn't thrilling enough, special on-stage guests have turned up the excitement level. On Wednesday, Tony Bennett sang "New York State of Mind" with Joel. John Mellencamp came on stage to perform his hit "Pink Houses," and Don Henley kept with the baseball theme with his standard "Boys of Summer." Fans were abuzz with speculation that Joel might bring on few more guests Friday -- possibly one of the surviving Beatles or his old pals Paul Simon or Elton John. "I would love it to be Paul McCartney or Ringo, for that matter," Gentile said. "A lot of people are predicting Elton John, but Paul McCartney, for me, would be just perfect." At least one of Joel's famous fans was in the audience Friday: ex-wife Christie Brinkley. The model sat about 10 rows from the stage, and fans snapped cell-phone photos of her before the show. ___ Associated Press writer Frank Eltman contributed to this report.
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