Billy Joel
2008-07-16
Next to Last Play at Shea
Shea Stadium
Flushing, NY
Audience Recording
320 kbps
Artwork Included
01. Introduction
02. The Star-Spangled Banner
03. Miami 2017
04. Prelude > Angry Young Man
05. My Life
06. Everybody Loves You Now
07. The Entertainer
08. Zanzibar
09. Allentown
10. The Ballad Of Billy The Kid
11. New York State Of Mind (with Tony Bennett)
12. Big Man On Mulberry Street
13. Root Beer Rag
14. Movin' Out
15. Goodnight Saigon
16. Don't Ask Me Why
17. This Is The Time (with John Mayer)
18. Keepin' the Faith
19. Downeaster Alexa
20. Stand By Me > An Innocent Man
21. Boys Of Summer (with Don Henley)
22. She's Always A Woman
23. Captain Jack
24. Lullabye
25, The River Of Dreams > A Hard Days Night
26. Pink Houses (with John Mellencamp)
27. We Didn't Start the Fire
28. It's Still Rock'n'Roll to Me
29. Please Please Me
30. You May Be Right
31. Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
32. Only The Good Die Young
33. She Loves You
34. Take Me Out To The Ball Game
35. Piano Man
36. Souvenir
OFFICIALLY RELEASED - LINK REMOVED
When local radio stations announced that Billy Joel would play the last concert ever at Shea Stadium - the officially proclaimed LAST PLAY AT SHEA - on Wednesday, July 16, 2008, my sister quickly called, amazingly got through, and came up with 4 seats for herself, her husband, my wife and me. Our celebration at being at such an historic event, however, was short lived. The show sold out so fast that they announced a 2
nd one -- for Friday July, 18,
2 days after the first show!! To say the least, it was quite unfair to those of us who plunked down top dollar for what we were led to believe was the last show at Shea. And it would only get worse when the concerts actually took place. Now don't get me wrong -- Billy Joel put on an incredible show on July 16, 2008. From the opening Star Spangled Banner (what else would you play in baseball stadium) to the closing Souvenir, Billy was as in fine form. In addition, he was joined by special guests John Mayer, Tony Bennett, Don Henley and John
Mellencamp. The 4 of us had a great time, even if we did have to leave a little early to catch the last train back to NJ. But there's no doubt that the 2
nd show was the one to be at. Guest stars that night included Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, Steven Tyler, Roger
Daltrey and the one and only Paul McCartney. Sir Paul had played the first ever concert at Shea with The Beatles in August 1965 (that one is posted on this blog) and now 43 years later, stood on stage to close the building. Talk about coming full circle. His plane from London landed just 15 minutes before he was to hit the stage and a police escort got him to Shea in the nick of time. His Let It Be was the last song ever played at Shea. As I'm a huge McCartney fan, I'm still bitter that I missed that historic moment because we were hoodwinked when we bought the tickets. Well, at least I may be able to get to enjoy that final show on film, as it appears a concert movie is about to be released (go
here for more info on that). No bootlegs are available of the July 18 concert, but I do have this audience recording of the July 16 show that I attended, just 5 years ago today. The sound quality isn't the best, but it was a magical night, even if it turned out to be just the NEXT TO LAST PLAY at Shea. Download and enjoy!
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