Billy Joel attends preview of his Yankee Stadium concert film

Like the rest of the audience Monday at the Sag Harbor Cinema's sneak preview of the 1991 concert film "Billy Joel: Live at Yankee Stadium," neither the Piano Man himself nor his band members in attendance had yet seen the newly remastered and remixed movie.

"I saw the original format, which was, like, a lot of cuts and edits and kind of crazy to watch," Joel, 73, told NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano outside the theater before the screening. "But I never saw it all put together like this. So this is my first time." Guitarist and singer Mike DelGuidice, 51, originally from the Joel tribute band Big Shot and now with both that and Joel's band, said, "I only saw the original … and it was one of the shows that really got me into Billy so I'm excited to see this."

Filmed June 22-23, 1990, at the since-demolished Bronx landmark, "Billy Joel: Live at Yankee Stadium" will play in theaters on Oct. 5 and 9. Tickets are available at billyjoel.film. Shot on 16 mm film, the concert has been reedited in higher-resolution 4K, and additionally has Dolby ATMOS audio newly mixed from the original tapes and overseen by Joel's longtime sound engineer, Brian Ruggle. It includes a previously unreleased performance of "Uptown Girl" as well as interviews with Joel and behind-the-scenes footage.

"They were exciting shows," Joel told DiStefano before the screening. Repeating a common misconception, he added, "I mean, it was the first time they ever allowed a rock and roll band to play at Yankee Stadium, and here I am at Yankee Stadium. Pretty wild." Joel's two shows actually were the third and fourth concerts there, following the all-star "Soundblast! '66," featuring Ray Charles, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Stevie Wonder and others, on June 10, 1966, and The Beach Boys on July 4, 1989.

Asked what he was most looking forward to at the screening, Joel, who attended with his wife Alexis, joked, or perhaps half-joked, "Popcorn. I'm starving — I haven't had dinner."

Also on hand at the Sag Harbor screening from Joel's band were multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter and producer Tommy Byrnes, 60, an Oceanside native and Long Island Music Hall of Famer who has been with Joel since 1993, and Crystal Taliefero, 59, a percussionist and multi-instrumentalist with Joel since the 1989 album "Storm Front."

The film, which was nominated for a longform-video Grammy Award, premiered on basic cable's Disney Channel on March 17, 1991. It was released on VHS home video the same year and on DVD in 1998.

Hicksville-raised Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Joel has won five Grammys plus a Grammy Legend Award, a Kennedy Center Honor and the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. He is scheduled to play his 86th monthly residency show at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 19.

With Elisa DiStefano