Elton John and Billy Joel, the most successful and longest-running concert pairing in pop history, will bring their wildly successful Face 2 Face tour to T-Mobile Center on December 1, 2009 at 7:30pm. Since kicking off the 2009 Face 2 Face tour in March 2009, the duo have performed over 40 sold out concerts in front of nearly three-quarters of a million people.

Elton and Billy open the concert with a series of duets, playing twin pianos and trading vocals. Each artist then performs a set with his own band. A grand finale brings the two superstars and their supporting musicians back together for a closing encore. This includes some of both Elton and Billy’s greatest hits along with an unpredictable selection of rock and roll classics.

Tickets go on-sale this Saturday, October 24 at 10:00 am through all Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com or charge by phone at 1.800.745.3000.

Concert dates announced for the fall 2009 segment of the Face 2 Face tour include Kansas City, Oakland, CA, San Jose, CA, Salt Lake City, UT, Portland, OR and two shows in Seattle, WA.

“I love touring with Billy. I have the greatest respect for him and we’re such good friends,” Elton said.

"The great thing about performing with Elton is that he is such a good piano player and that makes me have to dig deep to keep up with him, not to mention I’ve got the best seat in the house-only one piano away from Elton John!” said Billy.

“T-Mobile Center is honored to host our first ever Face 2 Face performance featuring legendary artists, Elton John and Billy Joel,” said Brenda Tinnen, T-Mobile Center general manager and senior vice president. “Kansas City eagerly anticipates the return of Elton John and Billy Joel to T-Mobile Center after selling out shows in our inaugural year.”

Elton and Billy played the first date of their co-headlining Face 2 Face tour on July 8, 1994 at the 62,000-capacity Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia PA. That Veterans Stadium concert began a run of 21 sold-out performances in 13 cities and established a winning formula for all future Face 2 Face concerts. The duo last toured together in 2003.

Perhaps the high point of that 1994 maiden voyage was the series of five concerts at 75,000-capacity Giants Stadium in New Jersey. In his review of the July 22 performance, Neil Strauss of the New York Times wrote: “Musically, the two gifted, idiosyncratic artists exist in the nether world between pop and rock, where Broadway show tunes, classical compositions, ragtime, gospel and rock-`n’-roll mingle freely.”

 
The 1994 Face 2 Face Tour played its final concert August 20 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL. It had become one of the ten biggest US tours of all time. In March and April 1995, the Face 2 Face Tour returned for twelve encore performances at some of the country’s largest stadiums.

Three years later, the tour that conquered North America took Europe, Japan and Australia by storm with a total of 30 performances.

Elton and Billy last toured together in 2003 with 24 sellouts. There could be no doubt that Face 2 Face starring Elton and Billy was according to Billboard, “the most successful touring package of all time.”