First Concert at Nats Park: Billy Joel-Elton John

Our colleague J. Freedom du Lac broke the news on his Post Rock blog today and D.C. Wire has confirmed: The first concert at Nationals Park will be a Billy Joel-Elton John double billing, sources said.

The particulars will be announced at a news conference Monday by the Nationals ownership group, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Live Nation, including the date of the concert and ticket information.

The event is a Nationals' production and the team will control the revenue. During the stadium financing negotiations, city officials demanded that the District would get use of the ballpark for 18 days, not 12, as was originally proposed by Major League Baseball.

But the question was always what kind of events could be staged at the open-air ballpark, crammed between the 81 home games for the Nationals and assuming events would not be staged during the cold winter months.

The District last year used the ballpark for a high school baseball tournament, and the Pope used the stadium when he visited. The Nationals also rented the ballpark to a youth conference during Barack Obama's inauguration.