Paul McCartney Brings Shea Stadium Full Circle

July 21st, 2008 // 9 Comments


After trotting out Tony Bennett, John Mellencamp, Don Henley, and John Mayer during what was supposed to be the last concert at Shea Stadium on Wednesday night, Billy Joel brought out perhaps the biggest gun in his cameo arsenal for Friday night’s final last show: Paul McCartney, who performed “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Let It Be” (above) with the Piano Man. McCartney, of course, played at Shea with his old band the Beatles back in 1965 and 1966, and Wednesday’s show was actually marked by Joel thanking the Beatles for letting him play “their room.” (Everybody: Awww.) [YouTube]


  1. BigRicks

    1) “Don’t take shit from anybody.” Seriously, that’s how you end the concert? Was there any context to this? He must have been on Jose Reyes side of the Keith Hernandez-Jose Reyes kerkuffle.

    2) Where’s Ringo?

  2. Maura Johnston

    @BigRicks: Hey, he’s an angry young man. (Who ended Wednesday night’s show with the same epigraph.)

    The weirdest thing about the show that I don’t think anyone mentioned: One song was set to a reel of Great Mets Moments, and said reel must have been edited by the biggest Benny Agbayani fan ever, as he got more screen time than anything else — the catch, Mike Piazza, the ’86 celebrations. Unfortunately there was no shot of Bobby V in disguise, though.

  3. Captain Wrong

    The Beatles’ room? Wasn’t there a baseball team that played there? I seem to recall such a thing…

  4. Maura Johnston

    @Captain Wrong: first place!!!

  5. Chris Molanphy

    @BigRicks: Joel’s been ending his concerts with that line for decades. It’s all very “Guyland.”

    The only time I’ve ever seen him was back in ’89, and he was ending with “Don’t take any shit…” then, too — and this was back when he was pretty content (on top of charts, married to Christie, actually keeping the money he made, etc.). It’ll be the last remaining chip on his shoulder, the one he takes to the grave.

  6. Reidicus

    That’s funny. I always thought Shea Stadium belonged to Chipper Jones.

  7. Maura Johnston

    @Reidicus: Oh you better watch it ;)

  8. free multiboxing

    Any of you guys play World of Warcraft? Any of you dual box the game?

  9. Taylor Niebyl

    perfect log you get

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