LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Forty-four years after he and the rest of the Beatles played the first major arena show in rock history at New York's Shea Stadium, Paul McCartney will perform next month at the new baseball field that replaced it.

Tickets go on sale next Monday for two McCartney concerts set for July 17 and 18 at Citi Field, marking the first musical performances scheduled at the new home of Major League Baseball's New York Mets, organizers said on Wednesday.

The concert is being touted as the latest performance linking Britain's McCartney, 66, with New York City and the Mets, starting with the Beatles' landmark appearance at Shea Stadium on Aug. 15, 1965.

That performance, attended by more than 55,000 fans, many of them hysterical, screaming teenage girls, was the first ever concert at Shea and launched the era of outdoor stadium rock shows. The Beatles' first live U.S. show actually took place more than a year earlier, in February 1964, at the Washington Coliseum, an indoor venue in Washington, D.C.

McCartney returned to Shea last July for a surprise guest performance at Billy Joel's "Last Play at Shea" concert, closing that show with a rendition of "Let It Be."

"The Beatles were the first to play at Shea Stadium and along with Billy Joel, I was the last to sing at the old Shea," McCartney said in a statement. "I am really looking forward to a buzzing show."

Organizers said McCartney's set list for Citi Field would feature hits from his days with the Beatles, Wings and his solo career, as well as selections from his latest album, "Electric Arguments," released under his musical alter ego, The Fireman.