SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) – Pop music superstar Billy Joel will help the Carrier Dome cap its 25th anniversary with a special concert at old-time prices, officials said Monday.

The March 25 concert is part of the singer’s first major solo concert tour in nearly seven years, said Debra Rathwell, senior vice president of AEG Live, the concert’s Los Angeles-based promoter.

In September, the New York City-born Joel gave a $320,000 gift to Syracuse’s Setnor School of Music to establish the Billy Joel Fellowships in Composition. This will be the fifth time Joel has played the Carrier Dome. His last concert there was in May 2001, in a sellout appearance with Elton John.

“We consider him a hometown boy, he’s played here so many times. We’re thrilled to have Billy come back,” said Pat Campbell, the dome’s managing director.

Tickets for the Carrier Dome concert go on sale Dec. 10 for $39.50 each – the same price tickets cost in 1998 when Joel last played the Dome solo and about $50 less than what will cost for tickets to the performer’s 2006 concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Rathwell said it was Joel’s idea to sell tickets at that price as an expression of gratitude for the support he’s received in his past shows in Syracuse. Joel did two sold-out shows at the Carrier Dome in February 1990 and two more in November 1993.

About 40,000 tickets will be sold for the March 2006 show, Campbell said.

Joel’s “My Lives” tour begins with concerts in Florida in January.

The university is celebrating the Dome’s silver anniversary with events throughout the 2005-06 academic year.

The dome opened in September 1980 at a cost of $27 million. Carrier Corp. paid $2.75 million for naming rights.

The dome remains the nation’s largest on-campus athletic facility and the fifth-largest domed stadium in the country. On Feb. 5, 33,199 people packed into the Carrier Dome to see the Orange play Notre Dame in men’s basketball, setting the NCAA record for basketball attendance at an on-campus facility.

In the past, the Dome has hosted some of music’s top acts including the Rolling Stones, The Who and U2.