Paul Crowder’s film, Last Play at Shea, a documentary about those concerts, which intertwined the history of the stadium and the New York Mets with Joel’s New York-centric biography, received accolades when it premiered at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival last October. Stephen Holden of The New York Times dubbed it “exhilarating,” noting of Joel’s musical selections, “His blunt, irresistibly tuneful songs, however autobiographical, are also nuggets of American cultural history.”

Now, those songs, mostly heard in fragmentary form in the documentary, are performed in full in Billy Joel: Live at Shea Stadium, which comes to PBS in March on Great Performances. (In New York, THIRTEEN will air the program Monday, March 7 at 8 p.m. ET, for other markets check local listings)

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Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.

Joel and his band offer definitive and often transcendent versions of hits, rarities, personal favorites and crowd-pleasing surprises, including duets with guests McCartney (“I Saw Her Standing There,” “Let it Be”), Bennett (“New York State of Mind”), and Brooks (“Shameless”).

Built in 1964, Shea Stadium was the home of the New York Mets for 45 years. Designed as a multi-purpose stadium, Shea became the birthplace of arena rock when the Beatles appeared there on August 15, 1965, establishing the ballpark as a pinnacle venue for rock’s biggest names. The Who, The Police, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and others have all played Shea.

Chosen as the last rock act to play the venue, Billy Joel staged his “Last Play at Shea” concerts on July 16 and July 18, 2008, rocking a combined audience of 110,000 fans with one of the most emotionally charged shows ever played at the historic stadium. After 45 years, two New York Mets World Series victories, the arena debut of The Beatles and Billy Joel’s “Last Play At Shea,” the final section of Shea Stadium was torn down in 2009.

Songs
Angry Young Man
My Life
Always a Woman
New York State of Mind (with Tony Bennett)
Allentown
Shameless (with Garth Brooks)
River of Dreams/Hard Days Night
We Didn’t Start the Fire
Captain Jack
Goodnight Saigon
I Saw Her Standing There (Paul McCartney)
Italian Restaurant
Take Me Out to the Ball Game/Piano Man
Let it Be (Paul McCartney)

The concert will be released a CD/DVD set as well as a stand-alone DVD and stand-alone Blu-ray disc by Sony Music on March 8.

It was co-produced (with Steve Cohen) and directed for television by Jon Small, and edited by Laura Young. Executive producers: David Horn and Todd Kamelhar. For Great Performances, Cara Cosentino is producer; Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, Vivian Milstein, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Filmed last October 2010 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Hitman Returns, the follow-up concert to the hugely popular 2008 Hitman: David Foster & Friends, is an all-star celebration featuring even more chart-topping stars and music from the 15-time Grammy Award-winner’s extensive career catalog.

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Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media partners.

The Mandalay Bay Events Center concert followed showman Foster’s 10-city “Foster + Friends” tour which sold out across the country. “We had such a phenomenal time last go round, I knew that I wanted to come back with a stronger, bigger and even more theatrical show that would be totally unforgettable.  I think we succeeded in assembling some of the greatest voices out there for one night,” stated Foster.  “I was thrilled to be hosting and accompanying my friends on this very special night,” he concluded.

Foster’s high profile friends on this occasion include All-4-One, Martina McBride, Charice, Natalie Cole, Earth, Wind & Fire, America’s Got Talent sensation Jackie Evancho, Lara Fabian, Ne-Yo, Michael Bolton, pedal steel guitar virtuoso Robert Randolph, Chaka Khan, Kenny Loggins, Seal, Ruben Studdard, and Donna Summer, performing songs either written, produced or connected to Foster over the course of his prolific musical career.

The evening offers  a succession of  showstopping solos, from both veteran performers and newcomers, the latter category represented in spectacular fashion by 10-year-old phenomenon Jackie Evancho’s renditions of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Pie Jesu” and Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro,” and “Glee” star Charice’s soulful “All By Myself.”

But the concert is also thrilling for its striking duets: Bolton and Seal’s bluesy mash-up of “When a Man Loves a Woman” and “It’s a Man World”; Natalie Cole and Ruben Studdard’s nostalgic “When I Fall in Love”; Lara Fabian and Bolton’s fervent “The Prayer”; and Donna Summer and Seal’s powerhouse medley of “Unbreak My Heart,” “Crazy,” and “On the Radio.”

Foster — who has been nominated for an unprecedented 45 Grammy awards, won two Emmys and was an Oscar nominee — has discovered and nurtured the careers of megastars such as Josh Groban and Michael Bublé.  He has well as created chart-topping hits for legends  Andrea Bocelli, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Chicago, Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind and Fire & Chaka Khan.

Song Rundown (as of press time)

David Foster “Winter Games”
Kenny Loggins “Heart To Heart”
Chaka Khan “Through the Fire”
All-4-One “I Swear”
Natalie Cole / Ruben Studdard “When I Fall In Love”
Jackie Evancho “Pie Jesu”
Jackie Evancho “O Mio Babbino Caro”
Martina McBride “We’ve Got Tonight”
Michael Bolton / Seal Medley “When A Man Loves A Woman / It’s A Man’s World”
Chaka Khan “I’m Every Woman”
Earth Wind & Fire Medley “In The Stone / September / After The Love Has Gone”
Lara Fabian “Caruso”
Ne-Yo “Miss Independent”
Charice “All By Myself”
Ne-Yo, Charice, Robert Randolph “Earth Song”
Lara Fabian / Michael Bolton “The Prayer”
Donna Summer / Seal Medley  “Unbreak My Heart / Crazy / On The Radio”
Donna Summer “Last Dance”

The concert was produced by THIRTEEN for WNET and WBR (Warner Bros. Records) for PBS broadcast on Great Performances, and will also be released this March as a concert CD/DVD on 143/Reprise Records.

The telecast was directed for television by David Horn, and produced by Mitch Owgang. Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn and David Foster are executive producers.

Great Performances is funded by The Starr Foundation, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Joseph A. Wilson, public television viewers and PBS.

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“I was 15 or 16 and he was 18 or 19, and he definitely looked after me,” Winwood recounts of his blossoming friendship with Clapton, at the top of the telecast. “[We] played records and talked about music. From very early on, he took on a brotherly [role].” As their friendship solidified, Clapton and Winwood – with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Ric Grech – formed Blind Faith. They disbanded in 1969 after releasing only one chart-topping, self-titled album.

The spotlight, however, hasn’t dimmed on either Clapton or Winwood’s careers – Clapton has won 18 Grammy Awards and honored with 3 different inductions into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame; Winwood has won Grammy Awards for record of the year and best male vocal performance for his work on “Higher Love.” As for the decision to play a reunion concert, Clapton wanted to recreate “the romance and beauty of [the music] played in the past” The pair take viewers back to rock’s glory days as they perform songs by Jimi Hendrix (Little Wing), Clapton’s catalogue (Forever Man), and tracks from Winwood’s band Traffic (Pearly Queen) – rounding off the performance with hits from their Blind Faith album– which, for fans old and new, is an evening not to be forgotten.

Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood: Live From Madison Square Garden also features Willie Weeks on bass, Chris Stainton on keyboard, and Ian Thomas on drums.

A production of Parallel 28 Equipe Inc., Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood: Live From Madison Square Garden is directed by Martyn Atkins and produced by John McDermott, James Pluta and Scooter Weintraub; John Beug, Michael Eaton, Peter Jackson and Tom Whalley are executive producers. The special was recorded live in performance at Madison Square Garden in February 2008. For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.

The telecast marks Clapton’s most recent appearance on Great Performances. In 2004, Great Performances broadcast highlights from Clapton’s three-day guitar festival from Dallas in Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, as well as a follow-up Crossroads Festival concert from Chicago in 2006. Clapton also appeared in the series’ presentation of Cream Reunion Concert (2005) and Concert for George (2003).

The DVD of Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood: Live From Madison Square Garden is distributed by Warner Strategic Marketing.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers, and PBS.