Rocket Man meets Piano Man

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Billy Joel and Elton John

• at the Air Canada Centre
• in Toronto on Tuesday

On stage there were two vintage grands - and their pianos were there too. Billy Joel and Elton John are the human jukeboxes of the Face 2 Face tour, a four-handed package that has enjoyed unparalleled success since its first shows back in 1994. Unless Little Richard hits the road with Jesus and Nat King Cole, the piano-pairing box-office records of Joel & John will be hard to beat. But of the model-marrying New Yorker and the Canadian-marrying British knight, who wins between them? At the end of a stunning, 31/2-hour hit parade (that returns to ACC on Saturday), who's still standing?

Head to Head

An introductory four-song set had two famous, squat men sitting at their long, black instruments, indeed head-to-head, some eight feet apart. The two didn't actually look at each other, lest their eyes meet as they traded unmanly lines about "how wonderful life is while you're in the world" and "I want you just the way you are." Four songs are done duet-style; John's enthusiastic baritone was a bit frayed on Joel's My Life ; Billy's tenor was warmed up already on Elton's Your Song . John, 62, was lavishly attired in a long, gaudy coat; his contemporary blond toupée has aged well. Bald Joel, 60, dressed as if on Toronto's Bay Street, which he fairly was. The Englishman won the opening set - he had us at the rumbling descending notes of Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me , a sweeping, grandiose ballad that Joel's repertoire had no answer for.

By the Numbers

• A beer-line poll revealed that six of the 18,000 fans came for both the main attractions, that four came for John, and that only one made the trip to see Joel. "He's lucky he's here with Elton," one woman cracked.
• A busy merchandise vendor said he was selling slightly more Rocket Man CDs than copies of The Stranger . One of his T-shirts reads "Billy + Elton = Heaven," but a ticket stub argues that Joel plus John adds up to $277.50 (including two bucks for charity).
• Songs and sets are split almost evenly: 17 John numbers, 16 Joel tunes, and two ivory-pounding rockers from Paul McCartney - Birthday and Back in the U.S.S.R , done exhilaratingly during an encore.

Captain Fantastic

John's music is more ambitious than his counterpart's. Funeral for a Friend/ Love Lies Bleeding is an epic, progressive piece that, when released in 1973, should have warned people of the man's theatre-score ambitions. John boogied and woogied on the high-octane Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting . Burn Down the Mission had a soulful, southern-rock feel, while Madman Across the Water , from 1971, sprawled like Stevie Winwood's Traffic . The affecting Tiny Dancer wonderfully rhymed "ballerina" with "you must have seen-a," the soaring ballad Rocket Man blew the roof off, and Crocodile Rock had socks a-hoppin'. If T-shirts were boasts, John's would read "I'm a tough act to follow, and if you don't believe me, just ask Billy Joel."

He's no Stranger

Reacting to John's robust set, Joel opened his own with muscular versions of Angry Young Man and Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) . Where John was not much for banter, Joel was gregarious, mentioning the duo's 2003 ACC concert (cancelled because of the SARS outbreak), and joking that he was now bringing the swine flu. Unlike John's material, songs like the working-class Allentown tell stories. John's playing was bluesy; Joel's Zanzibar was Steely Dan-jazzy. She's Always a Woman to Me , melodic with a baroque flow, had an audience in Joel's sway. Maybe he didn't start the fire, but he certainly wasn't extinguishing it either.

The Piano Men

Going into the encore set, the two pop icons were even enough. If they had come to see John, there weren't many folks walking to the restrooms during Joel's set. Joel added high harmony on John's Candle in the Wind ode, and gave as well he took during a rollicking The Bitch Is Back . The madman from across the water stole the shout-along rocker You May Be Right , but the telling blow came at the concert's finale: John sang the line "it's me they've been comin' to see" on Piano Man , Joel smiling as it happened on his own signature song. He had played piano, guitar and rack harmonica, and now he had graciously added second fiddle to his list.

Billy Joel and Elton John play ACC again on Saturday; Ottawa, June 1; Montreal, June 3; and Buffalo, July 24.