Live at Yankee Stadium (2022)


 

Disc One    
  1. Stormfront
  2. Allentown
  3. Prelude / Angry Young Man
  4. I Go To Extremes
  5. New York State of Mind
  6. The Downeaster "Alexa"
  7. My Life
  8. Shameless
  9. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
  10.Pressure
  11.Miami 2017
  12.Uptown Girl
  
Disc Two
 1. We Didn't Start the Fire
 2. A Matter of Trust
 3. Only the Good Die Young
 4. That's Not Her Style
 5. Big Shot
 6. Goodnight Saigon
 7. It's Still Rock and Roll To Me
 8. An Innocent Man
 9. You May Be Right
 10.Piano Man

 

Once released in truncated VHS form in the early ’90s—back when full-length concert videos were as rare as subtlety in a hair-metal ballad—Live at Yankee Stadium now returns in a much more complete, and much more satisfying, format. It’s no small thing. In an era when legacy artists are endlessly repackaged and replayed, this particular resurrection feels not only justified, but overdue.

Originally filmed over two nights in 1990, the concert captures Billy Joel at a unique creative juncture. While some might argue that his studio output had begun to taper—Storm Front was no The Stranger—his live performances told a different story. Onstage, he was, without question, at his peak. The voice was intact, the energy ferocious, and the connection with his audience—in this case, on hallowed Bronx turf—was something bordering on spiritual.

Yankee Stadium had never been a natural home for rock shows. It was built for legends of a different stripe. But Joel, born just a few subway stops away, made the house that Ruth built feel, for one weekend, like Madison Square Garden’s boisterous older cousin. The band is tight, the arrangements bold, and Joel—unburdened by the polish of the studio—lets the songs breathe, swing, and stomp.

It’s a shame, then, that the track sequencing on this expanded release doesn’t mirror the original setlists. For casual listeners, it’s a non-issue. For diehards, it’s a minor betrayal. The shuffling of the running order robs the show of some of its narrative arc, that carefully plotted rise and fall known to anyone who’s spent their life chasing bootlegs. Why do producers still insist on “improving” what didn’t need fixing?

Still, that quibble aside, the release is a significant one. The full concert (or concerts, rather) now available in audio form offers a richer portrait of Joel at the height of his touring powers, before the long fade into semi-retirement and symphony halls. The sound quality is robust, the performances visceral, and the crowd—as you’d expect from New York—is part of the show.

Joel has often been best understood live, where his punchlines hit harder, his phrasing stretches and swells, and his occasionally schmaltzy studio tendencies are tempered by real-time grit. Live at Yankee Stadium doesn’t just document a concert—it captures a moment when an artist and his city stood in perfect synchrony.

It might’ve taken three decades and multiple formats to get here, but this one was worth the wait.


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