 | William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, or Shea Stadium (see photo), is an American ballpark in New York City. It is the longtime home of the New York Mets Major League Baseball club. |
| 2008 season is Shea’s 45th and final one. The last regular season baseball game is scheduled to be played on Sunday, September 28, 2008 when the Mets host the Florida Marlins. In 2009, Shea will be replaced by Citi Field, which is currently under construction in the parking lot behind Shea's left field. After the completion of Citi Field, Shea Stadium will be dismantled. One of the most significant concerts in music history occurred at Shea Stadium on Sunday, August 15, 1965, when The Beatles opened their 1965 North American tour at Shea Stadium to a record audience of 55,600. It was the first concert to be held at a major stadium and set records for attendance and revenue generation, demonstrating that outdoor concerts on a large scale could be successful and profitable, and led the Beatles to return again to Shea for a very successful encore in August 1966. The attendance record was held for eight years until it was broken by Led Zeppelin at Tampa Stadium in 1973. The stadium has hosted numerous concerts since, the most recent being a three-night engagement by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in early October 2003. Other acts that have headlined at Shea are Jethro Tull in July 1976, The Who/The Clash in October 1982, Simon and Garfunkel in August 1983, The Police in August 1983, the Rolling Stones/Living Colour in October 1989 and Elton John & Eric Clapton in August 1992. During his tour of America in October 1979, Pope John Paul II was also among those hosted by Shea Stadium. On the morning of the Pontiff's visit, Shea Stadium was awash in torrential rain, causing ankle-deep mud puddles, and threatened to ruin the event. But as the Popemobile entered the stadium, the rain stopped. On July 16 and 18, 2008, Billy Joel played the last two scheduled concerts ever at the stadium, which were dubbed "The Last Play at Shea". Joel played three Beatles songs ("A Hard Day's Night," "Please, Please Me" and "She Loves You"), and introduced his signature "Piano Man" with "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." He also played the national anthem to start the show. Artists joining Joel on stage during the two shows included Tony Bennett, Don Henley, John Mayer, John Cougar Mellencamp, Garth Brooks, Steven Tyler, Roger Daltrey and Paul McCartney, who closed the July 18th concert by playing Let it Be. | |
Piano Man Billy Joel with Sir Elton John in Japan 1998 | |
| SOURCE: Shea Stadium |
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