The Last Play at Shea

When it comes to movies about live concerts, I can take them or leave them.  But, for me, "The Last Play at Shea" is something very different.  I can't be ambivalent here.  I was in tears at the end.  The experience was that special.

For those who don't know, this film amazingly uses the last rock concert ever at Shea Stadium as the connective tissue for a documentary about legendary Billy Joel, New York City, and that major part of my own childhood, the esteemed "dump" on Flushing Bay.  All three elements work fabulously.  This movie is a masterwork of craftmanship and I am shocked that it didn't get more in-theater attention.  Still, on my new Blu-Ray player, it sparkled.

First off, I guess Billy Joel is one of my favorite rock stars, primarily because I have seen him in-person more than anybody else.  Joel is the quintessential New York and his music, most popular during my young adult years, provokes the most memories of emotions that such a time in life warrants.  Dating, break-ups, career angst.  Billy nails it all and it always feels incredibly organic.

In a mystical way, Joel was the perfect choice as the final rock concert ever to be held at Shea Stadium.  The baseball fans that populated that concrete shrine since 1964 are just like him.  The working class.  The poor slobs.  The sadder-but-wiser folks.

Me.

In retrospect, I wish I had been there for the last live music at Shea.  The moments captured on film resonate with the deepest of my emotions.  First responders singing along on stage.  Special guests like Tony Bennett and garth Brooks doing a song or two along with Joel. 

And, of course, the closing number with surprise artist Paul McCartney recalling the August day in 1965 when he and three other gents trolled some makeshift stage around second base.  I remember that night vividly, but I, of course, was not there.  But, coming home from a visit to relatives on Long Island, my dad drove on the Grand Central Parkway with Shea in the distance.  We rolled down the car windows and, even at least five miles away, we could hear the screaming girls.

Juxtaposed with footage of the 2008 Joel concert and the Beatles' visit to Shea in 1965 is a thorough synopsis of Billy's career as well as the life of the stadium.  Plenty of Mets and football Jets footage is shown one more time for the ages.  The black cat stalking the Chicago Cubs' dugout in 1969.  Cleon Jones catching the last out of that year's World Series.  Bill Buckner's 1986 error one more time.  Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza closing the centerfield gate for the last time.  And, most tragically, we are witness to the scoreboard being knocked down into aluminum pieces during the stadium's demolition.

Yes, there were tears.  A reminder of life passing all too quickly.  Goodnight, Saigon and goodbye, my youth.  As Darryl Strawberry says in the movie, Shea was a dump, but "it was our dump."

Yes, it was.  And, like Billy Joel sings, I loved it just the way it was.

Dinner last night:  Prime rib from Gelson's.