<P> The original New York Cosmos beat the Washington Diplomats, 2 - 0, in an NASL playoff game at Shea on August 17, 1976 . </P> <P> New York United of the American Soccer League called Shea home in 1980 . </P> <P> On Sunday, August 15, 1965, the Beatles opened their 1965 North American tour there to a record audience of 55,600 . "Beatlemania" was at one of its peaks at their Shea concert . Film footage shows many teenagers and women crying, screaming, and even fainting . The crowd noise was such that security guards can be seen covering their ears as the Beatles entered the field . The sound of the crowd was so deafening that none of the Beatles (or anyone else) could hear what they were playing . Nevertheless, it was the first concert to be held at a major stadium and set records for attendance and revenue generation, demonstrating that outdoor concerts on a large scale could be successful and profitable, and led the Beatles to return to Shea for a successful encore on August 23, 1966 . The attendance record stood until 1973 when it was broken by Led Zeppelin with 56,800 fans at Tampa Stadium . </P> <P> The next major music event to play Shea Stadium after the Beatles successful appearances was the Summer Festival for Peace on August 6, 1970 . It was a day - long fundraiser, which featured many of the era's biggest selling and seminal rock, folk, blues and jazz performers including: Janis Joplin, Paul Simon, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steppenwolf, The James Gang, Miles Davis, Tom Paxton, John Sebastian, and others . </P>

Who played the first concert at shea stadium