Paul McCartney jets in for Billy Joel

Sir Paul McCartney has revealed that he was two hours from New York on a flight from London when Billy Joel started his concert at Shea Stadium last week.

McCartney had been invited to perform with Joel and actually made the show.

"It was crazy," Paul said in a statement to fans. "I'd been on a plane for hours and had no idea how far into the show Billy was. The pilot had been keeping us informed of how we were doing time-wise and we found out later that air traffic control had worked hard to ensure we landed on time, but then there was still going to be the traffic to negotiate in order to make it for the show. When the plane doors opened I was met by the police and airport security who rushed me straight through all the arrival procedures and then got me out as quickly as possible."

The flight from London landed at 11pm and at 11.20pm, McCartney was on stage with Billy.

"I've really got to hand it to those guys as without them I don't think we'd have made it. I'd really like to say a special thanks to them and express my gratitude for getting me to the show on time!"

"Everything happened so quickly", Paul said. "I didn't have a chance to soundcheck or warm up in any way and Billy had no idea I was there! We had just about enough time to find me a guitar strap as I walked on to the stage. I heard the band count the song in and bang there I was, in front of thousands of people playing away. I just about managed to get to the microphone for the opening line of the song. In then hit me that this 4:30am in the morning my time and I thought what am I doing here! But it was great."

The Joel and McCartney performance was the last ever show to be played at the hallowed grounds of Shea.

McCartney played at the venue 40 years earlier with The Beatles.