Live At Shea Stadium

I have to take this moment to brag that I saw Billy Joel in the Moore Theatre in Seattle in the fall of 1974. There were less than 30 people in the audience. Billy Joel is a national treasure. This lovingly crafted Blu-Ray works on so many levels its hard to know where to begin. First, the Blu-Ray is rendered with perfect color balance; I don't recall a single shot that isn't a visual delight. Most significantly, I did not detect any video compression at all. I would like to thank everyone involved in this decision for resisting the urge to cram too much on the disk and instead opting for the highest possible video quality. Nearly all Blu-Ray movies are compressed such that there is obvious "mosquito noise". I didn't detect any on this disk. The sound is also engineered very well. All instruments are in the proper perspective, including the numerous strings and horns. Whoever did the engineering and mixdown should get a raise. The rear channels of the 5.1 mix bring in mostly the ambience, including the audience, and adds to the excitement. The rear channels are never obtrusive and allow the front and center speakers to focus on the music. This recording is a technological marvel of the highest caliber. I cannot say enough about the quality of the performance. While Billy Joel is more than capable of carrying any show, these performances were really about his body of work. The songs are featured with sufficient instrumentation and quality of musicianship to bring the studio renditions to life. His personal performance sparkles without being over stated....he lets his songs do the talking. I understand that there are numerous songs that didn't make it onto this disk. Again, I presume that the producer elected to leave off some material to avoid having to apply video compression, and I absolutely agree with this decision. I suppose I'll have to pony up some more money when the "complete" set comes out. No worries, I'm a sucker who will buy this performance all over again if necessary. After all, I've watched it once and already feel like I've got more than my money's worth.

I first heard Billy Joel in the 1970's with his "52nd Street" album and loved it. I am not a pop music aficionado, but I have always like BJ so I thought this Blu Ray disk would serve an attractive way to evaluate my Home Theatre System. I would tend to moderate some of the pros and cons of this disk...Firstly, most people, and I too, seem to think the video quality is excellent...Very sharp, clear and bright with great camera work. The concert had a good deal of electricity and BJ gave his all. The band was great and Billy can still sing and play the piano well enough to excite an audience, but as you would expect, time has taken some toll on the upper reaches of his voice, but not enough to seriously detract from the enjoyment or the occasion of the concert; it is remarkable that a guy of his age can perform as well as he did for over two hours. The contributions of McCartney and Bennett and others added greatly to the festivity of the occasion.... Now for the sound issues: The problem may have been microphone placement which favored Billy's voice over the percussion section of his great band. I played it in several different modes and I could not tell much difference on some pretty good equipment. The sound was quite forward with BJ's voice front and center. I found that the disk had great dynamic range and had great presence and clarity, but to get those qualities a little bass response was sacrificed, but not much. Some of the problem may simply be that the concert was in an outdoor venue which presents acoustic challenges not found in the recording studio. I got the best sounding bass response playing the disc through my Yamaha receiver in 7 channel enhancer mode....Whatever that is! The home theatre receivers have become so complex, and I am too old and technologically challenged to operate them properly...I just would like simple bass and treble controls.. I don't really understand triple Dolby EX, DTS, virtual sound, lossless audio, Etc. All in all a great concert, on a great occasion well filmed and nicely recorded.

Great DVD! Billy can't sing like he used to!

Ich habe mir diese BluRay als langjähriger Billy Joel-Fan zugelegt, weil es ja soviel aktuelles Konzertmaterial in zeitgemäßer Qualität leider gar nicht von ihm gibt! Dieses Konzert aber ist fantastisch! Billy Joel hatte im Sommer 2008 an zwei Abenden 110.000 Fans ins alte Shea-Stadium gelockt. Er, seine Band und seine Gäste sind in bester Spiellaune. Die Bild- und Tonqualität dieser BD ist einfach grandios, hier gibts wirklich nichts zu mäkeln! Die Songauswahl bietet einen tollen Querschnitt über 30 Jahre seines aktiven Schaffens als Songwriter und vor allem, wie komplex viele Stücke sind, mit Stimmungs- und Tempiwechsel, wie kleine Rockopern: The Ballad of Billy The Kid, Captain Jack, Songs From An Italian Restaurant oder Goodnight Saigon, um nur einige zu nennen. Aber alle klingen live viel frischer, knackiger und lebendiger als in ihren ursprünglichen Studioversionen aus den 70er Jahren. Auch mir ist aufgefallen, dass sehr viele junge Leute bei dem Konzert dabei waren und textsicher die meisten Songs mitsingen konnten, auch die aus den 70er und 80er Jahren. Dass Billy Joel stimmlich nicht mehr so performen kann wie früher, den Eindruck kann man vereinzelt bei dem Konzert haben, würde ich aber nicht generalisieren. In einer beiläufigen Szene des Konzertes, die die Kamera noch mitbekommen hat, sprüht er sich ein Medikament in den Hals, was darauf schließen lässt, dass er möglicherweise gesundheitlich angeschlagen war - Stimmprobleme gab es ja schon häufiger bei ihm. Wir haben ihn zuletzt im Sommer 2006 in Frankfurt gesehen und da hat er eine stimmlich grandiose und begeisternde Vorstellung über 2 1/2 Stunden geleistet. Naja, und dass das Publikum beim Song "Piano Man" wie ein Begleitchor mitsingt und dann auch noch teilweise alleine ohne Begleitung durch BJ und Band - das gehört einfach zu jedem Billy Joel-Konzert dazu! Dieses Konzert macht einfach Spass und man wird sie sich mehr als einmal ansehen!

UN CONCERTO MERAVIGLIOSO...UNA BAND STUPENDA E UN CANTAUTORE IMMENSO. BILLY JOEL SEMPRE E PER SEMPRE NEL MIO CUORE.

Just the look on Billy Joel's face as he sings the very 1st song in this brilliant concert says everything about this once in a lifetime concert, just think about it 110,000 plus people singing and bopping along with all of Billy Joel's wonderful songs and hits? watching all the talented musicians and guests backing Joel's perfect concert was riveting, but watching that multi talented lady Crystal Taliefero-Pratt do her her stuff blew my mind, anybody that enjoy live concerts that doesn't purchase this incredible DVD have rocks in their head enough said!!!!

Sudar suda de lo lindo...pero es que el tio borda la actuación. No es un concierto de grandes éxitos pero está genial en su imagen, sonido, duración, montaje...y tiene artistas invitados de la talla de John Mayer...y sir Paul. lo compre a buen precio, <10€ aunque si pagas 20 no te deberías quejar por que lo vale. 100% recomendado