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Greg Prince and Jason Fry
Faith and Fear in Flushing made its debut on Feb. 16, 2005, the brainchild of two longtime friends and lifelong Met fans.

Greg Prince discovered the Mets when he was 6, during the magical summer of 1969. He is a Long Island-based writer, editor and communications consultant. Contact him here.

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Scenes From a Municipal Stadium

by on 7 February 2008 11:36 pm

The other long-rumored appearance at Shea Stadium by a superstar performer has been confirmed, as Billy Joel (seen here gazing in awe toward the site of the legendary Johan Santana press conference) will indeed play the final concert at what VH1 Classic referred to recently as “the most hallowed turf” in rock. Given that the show will go on July 16, during the All-Star break, we hope it doesn’t become the most hollowed-out turf in baseball when the Mets return for the second half.For those of you scoring at home, Billy Joel leads the Top 500 circuit with nine separate hits, from “Only The Good Die Young” at No. 11 to “A Matter of Trust” at No. 466. Though he has not released an album of new material in 15 years, he has certainly grown as a person and as an artist. For example, his headwear is officially more awesome now than it’s ever been.

Big man on Roosevelt Avenue, indeed.
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10 comments to Scenes From a Municipal Stadium

  • Anonymous
    February 7th, 2008 at 7:08 pm

    Billy Joel? Good fucking God.

  • Anonymous
    February 7th, 2008 at 11:00 pm

    I love Billy Joel, if for no other reason that he said that Queens could stay, but he blew the Bronx away.
    My daughter Virginia has his autograph on the back of a wallet-sized picture of a 2 year old version of herself. He wrote, “Virginia, Sorry about that song. Love, Billy Joel”

  • Anonymous
    February 8th, 2008 at 1:28 am

    Up With People, Don MacLean, and Debbie Gibson weren't available.

  • Anonymous
    February 8th, 2008 at 3:44 am

    “Piano Man” is one of my if-that-shit-comes-on-I'm-leaving-this-bar songs.

  • Anonymous
    February 8th, 2008 at 8:46 am

    Shoulda retired when Seaver did.
    Has nothing to do with the Beatles or the Mets.
    BOOOOOOOO!

  • Anonymous
    February 8th, 2008 at 9:01 am

    I love a lot of Billy Joel's music. “So It Goes” from Stormfront is one of the most heartbreaking love songs you'll ever hear.
    BUT…
    He's a fucking YANKEE fan! The man is the Billy Crystal of rock 'n' roll. All I ever heard in the 70's & 80's was “I loved the Yankees all my life. Mickey Mantle was a GOD, etc.”
    Even moreso than Paul Simon (whom I also love, dammit…)

  • Anonymous
    February 8th, 2008 at 10:18 am

    If the powers that be really wanted to make a lasting tribute to Shea's rock concert history, they should have contacted Sir Paul McCartney many moons ago in honor of the Beatles setting the stage for all future gigs to follow. When it comes to Shea Stadium, one thinks of the Mets, Jets and the Beatles, not the Mets, Jets and Billy Joel.
    While it will never happen, a nice gesture by the jets would also be to play one game at Shea next fall.

  • Anonymous
    February 8th, 2008 at 10:39 am

    I'm totally expecting a bunch of old Jets to make their way out to the Closing Day ceremonies. Maybe if Broadway Joe shows up he can have a drinking contest with Keith. That'd be worth the price of admission alone.
    I was also kind of hoping they'd so something with McCartney. Maybe he can sing the national anthem at some point during the season, and have Ringo just stand there with him. Are Brits allowed to do that? Regardless, those two should be invited to Closing Day.
    Pretty much the only reason I was happy to hear about this Billy Joel concert was because originally he was talking up a storm about doing a show in October or November, so that he would be the last event at Shea. That would have pissed me off. But July 16th, with 5 days to make any fixes to the field? No sweat.

  • Anonymous
    February 9th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    I was hoping for The Police. They played Shea 25 years ago (8/18/83) and since they're in the midst of a reunion tour, I even thought it was a possibility.
    Billy Joel is a disappointment for the purposes of last rock show at Shea. Boooo.

  • Anonymous
    February 10th, 2008 at 3:44 pm

    I'd hoped for the Figgs myself.
    Seriously though, Billy F-ing Joel? Why didn't they just not have a show this year? That way Bruce Springsteen would have been the last artist to play there. I would have been fine with that.