Billy Joel has added a second – and final – show at Shea Stadium in July because tickets to the first show soldout so quickly. Called “The Last Play at Shea,” the first concert, scheduled for July 16 sold more than 50,000 tickets in 48 minutes, according to organizers, prompting the second show, which is slated for July 18. The July 16 sellout, which was held Feb. 16, marked the fastest concert sell out in Shea’s 44-year history.

Hopefully, things will go a lot smoother the second time around. According to published reports, many ticket buyers were locked out from buying tickets due to a server overload with the New York Mets’ online ticketing system.
Ticket buyers were met with a message stating the servers were busy and then had to wait for a 60-second timer to count down before another attempt could be made. Tickets for the second show go on sale this Saturday, Feb. 23, at 507Tixx.com. Citi cardmembers will have access to purchase preferred seats through Citi’s Private Pass program.

Besides the fact that only a handful of acts have played multiple shows at Shea since its opening in 1964, the Mets are playing their final season at the facility before moving next door to Citi Field in 2009.

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Joel becomes only the fourth act to play multiple shows at Shea Stadium, joining Rock & Roll Hall of Famers the Beatles (1965, 1966), the Rolling Stones (1989), Elton John & Eric Clapton (1992), and Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (2003). He also becomes the first artist in music history to have played all four of New York City’s premier sporting venues: Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Giants Stadium and Madison Square Garden, where, in April 2006, he broke the record for longest sequence of sold-out shows by a single artist (12).

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(The image accompanying this story is from CBSNews.com)

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