Decker

As an avid Billy Joel fan, I thought I should probably start a thread on this. It's a confusing set of releases.

On Tuesday (Feb 8), there is a documentary DVD coming out called Last Play At Shea. It played theatrically for a night in several cities. I missed it locally (they had an audience Q & A session with the producer here). I guess it's about the staging of the actual event. There are some musical performances, but I'm not sure how much.

It's available at Amazon for $10.99

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I have it at the top of my Netflix queue and will hopefully be able to post some impressions by next weekend.


Then on March 1, the concert footage will come out as "Billy Joel Live At Shea Stadium". Like so many other recent concert releases, you'll get your choice of DVD, CD/DVD combo or Blu Ray. Why we can't get a Blu/CD pack is beyond me, but nobody wants to do that, apparently.
The reason why I consider this release special is because (believe it or not) this is the first official Billy Joel concert video of the digital era. Both other Billy Joel concert DVDs (the amateurishly made and nearly unwatchable "Live At Yankee Stadium" and the heavily-edited version of "Live From The River Of Dreams Tour" disc included in the "My Lives" box set are VHS transfers. I'm glad after 12 years of near-continuous touring (and at least two previous official live CD releases), we finally have a high video quality concert release from him.

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TRACK LISTING:
1. Prelude/Angry Young Man
2. My Life
3. Summer, Highland Falls
4. Everybody Loves You Now
5. Zanzibar
6. New York State Of Mind (with Tony Bennett)
7. Allentown
8. The Ballad Of Billy The Kid
9. She's Always A Woman
10. Goodnight Saigon
11. Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)
12. Shameless (with Garth Brooks)
13. This Is The Time (with John Mayer)
14. Keeping The Faith
15. Captain Jack
16. Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)
17. The River Of Dreams/A Hard Day's Night
18. We Didn't Start The Fire
19. You May Be Right
20. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
21. Only The Good Die Young
22. I Saw Her Standing There (with Paul McCartney)
23. Take Me Out To The Ballgame
24. Piano Man
25. Let It Be (with Paul McCartney)

BONUS PERFORMANCES
Walk This Way (with Steven Tyler)
My Generation (with Roger Daltrey)
Pink Houses (with John Mellencamp)

Decker

Of course, the documentary should have been included as an extra on the DVD (or at least on the Blu Ray version), but I guess they're trying to milk every dime. If I'm not mistaken they did the same thing with his Russian concert as well -- one video of the concert, another behind the scenes video of the tour.

hasslein

I wonder if he actually learned the songs in the bonus performances, or winged them off the teleprompter like he did with the Springsteen "Born to Run" duet.

Decker

For "Pink Houses" at least, I'd bet on the teleprompter. I used to live in IN for a few years. Saw him twice in Indy. Both times, he took a crack at "Jack & Diane" for the Melencamp crazy local crowd. Both times he petered out in the second or third line because he didn't know the lyrics. At least he gets "Viva Las Vegas" right every time he plays here.

Decker

I watched the Last Play at Shea DVD this afternoon. It's really, really good. Far more comprehensive than I thought it would be. Provides a good deal of background and biography on Joel. Narrative structure follows the lifespan of Shea and the highs and lows of the Mets and counters that with Billy Joel's life at roughly the same time period. Uses Joel's music as a commentary on those periods in their respective "lives" (i.e. "Everybody Loves You Now" for the 1969 Mets). Lots of stuff about Joel, some of which I'd never heard before as an avid fan. Some very candid interviews, most surprisingly from Christie Brinkley who talks more about their relationship than I've ever heard her say before on the subject. Lots of stuff on the business problems, very little on the drinking (though that doesn't surprise me -- at least there were no squirm-worthy moments like the Katie Couric interview). Nice of Sir Paul to do a sit-down interview to talk about the Beatles' show at Shea -- thought that was really cool.
For Billy Joel fans, it's a must watch. Probably for Mets fans as well. For me, I think I'll have to buy it eventually. Really top-notch production

edit : Review now up on this site. Pretty fair assessment of the DVD.

davidh777

Thanks for clarifying the different releases. I'd like to see these.

MisterBill2

So, according to Amazon, the price of the CD/DVD and DVD-only versions are the same (within a penny). The track list for the DVD seems to be the same (25 tracks), although it's not clear if the 3 bonus tracks shown above on the CD version. Anyone with my info on this? The links are above.. in cases like this are the DVD's typically identical? Other than for the DVD-style case, I can't see any reason not to get the combo.

Decker

It's got to be the same DVD in both sets; I've bought other CD/DVD sets and it's always the same disc. I'd definitely get the CD/DVD set over the DVD only one. Unfortunately, the Blu Ray version has been delayed by five weeks for some reason. I've pre-reserved the first copy of the CD/DVD set from my local library, so I'll hopefully have some impressions of the set up pretty soon.

sportsfan64

Just an FYI, part of this concert is airing soon on PBS. Check your listings to seen when it's on in your area.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episod...-concert/1078/

MisterBill2

Best Buy claims that they will have the Blu-Ray on Tuesday and they're $17.99. $9.99 for the DVD version ($4 cheaper than Amazon). Either they got an exclusive on the Blu-Ray for a month or they missed the postponed date.

Decker

Best Buy is listing the Blu Ray as a Best Buy exclusive. I think they just swung an exclusivity deal for the month. The CD/DVD set and the single DVD will be available everywhere on Tuesday.

BTW : I noticed that Amazon dropped my preorder price of the BR to $15.99. Don't know if that was a brief price adjustment or a way to lessen the disappointment of the delay for those who preordered it.

MisterBill2

Bestbuy.com is still showing their regular non-ad prices for the CD, DVD and Blu-ray. I would have expected them to lower it when the ad started. Is that normal for them?

MisterBill2

Amazon lowered their price on the DVD to $9.99 (matching Best Buy, who finally updated their website), so I ordered from Amazon. Watched it tonight on PBS. They cut 10 of 25 songs, and bleeped him on at least 2 occasions (including his famous "don't take any shit from anyone" closing line).

Check your local PBS station to see if it will be on this week. It's being shown as part of Great Performances. You'll probably have to put up with numerous pledge breaks.

Decker

If you want the DVD, isn't it worth the extra $4 for the 2 CD/DVD set instead?

hasslein

I saw Captain Jack on PBS.. Pretty awesome.

Decker

Saw that the 2CD/DVD set comes in one of those old-school thick double-hinged 2 CD cases. That is very nice; I'm so tired of trying to squeeze multiple discs in crappy digipacks. I have some of these old 2CD cases from college 20+ years ago and they're still in great shape. I haven't seen a release in one of those cases in years, maybe a decade even.

reverie

That's funny, I was saying the same thing to my wife earlier.. that I couldn't tell you how long since I've seen one of these cases. It's almost nostalgic.

siddd5

Love Billy. Been a fan for 35 years, but him cranking out the same live stuff he's been cranking out for the last 20 years bores me. Hard to believe it's been 2 decades since his last studio album. Makes me sad.

Also. Why can't any of his live recordings sound as good as 'Songs In The Attic' production wise? 'Attic', while not a true live concert album, was almost perfect in sound production and execution.

Michael Corvin

I'm not a fan of live albums in general, but I have what I need from Joel unless he does an album of new material.

sportsfan64

BestBuy.com has the DVD on sale for $7.49, the CD/DVD for $9.99, and the Blu-Ray for $14.99, all with free shipping. I believe these are Easter Sunday deals only.
http://www.bestbuy.com/
DVD SKU is 2075064
CD/DVD SKU is 2075046
Blu-Ray SKU is 2075143