“M” is for those million-selling records. “O” is for their old songs we all know. “T” is for the tour that brought pop's premier piano men of the '70s and '80s, Elton John and Billy Joel, to Firstar Center Sunday for a sold-out Mother's Day concert.

        The mood was a bit like the old Rat Pack reunion tours — veteran pop masters showing off their craft to a crowd of contemporaries. Neither had new music to play. Mr. Joel's most recent CD is a year-old double-disc concert set; Mr. John's new disc arrives in stores today — another greatest-hits collection.

        But if Sunday was a nostalgia trip, accommodations were first class. The tickets reflected it, reaching $175 for the best seats.

        The two worked hard to give the people their money's worth. The non-stop, three hours and 15 minutes spanned their combined 60-plus years in music.

        The night opened with twin grand pianos rising from beneath the stage, as the two sang Mr. John's “Your Song,” Mr. Joel taking the first verse.

        Then Mr. Joel explained he wrote “Just the Way You Are” for “my first ex-wife.” Mr. John sang the first verse on that one.

        Not to be outdone, Mr. John said he wrote the final duet of the opening segment, “Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me” for “my first ex-husband.” (They were joined on the last by Mr. John's band.)

        The British singer/songwriter took the first half of the show, running through his songbook, from such early, countrified material as “Levon” to the glitzy pop ballad, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.”

        Sporting a bright red suit, Mr. John was in fine voice, moving from his classic ballad “Rocket Man” to such little known songs as “All the Girls Love Alice” to his pop-rock anthems, “Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting” and “Crocodile Rock.”

        He also did a good job on Mr. Joel's “Uptown Girl,” which the latter had written for his second ex-wife, Christie Brinkley, and no longer performs.

        For Mr. John's 75-minute set, He was backed by a fine six-piece band, including his longtime drummer Nigel Olsson and Nashville guitar ace John Jorgensen.

        They'd barely vacated the stage when Mr. Joel and his eight-member troupe took over. True to his competitive New York roots, he turned up the intensity with “I Go to Extremes” and kept that pace for the next hour.

        He touched on classic pop with “New York State of Mind,” as well as his own version of '70s prog-rock with the theatrical, multi-sectioned “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant.”

        He even donned sunglasses and a guitar to do a pretty good Elvis on “Heartbreak Hotel” (which he'd recorded for 1992's Honeymoon in Vegas), before launching into his boomer history “We Didn't Start the Fire.”

        Though he needed a lyric sheet for “Allentown,” Mr. Joel has kept more of the old fire than Mr. John, who spent his set firmly seated at the piano. Mr. Joel remained standing to sing “It's Still Rock 'n' Roll to Me” and showed his mastery of microphone stand maneuvers.

        Mr. Joel had several of his old band members on hand — drummer Liberty DeVitto, saxophonist Mark Rivera and singer/saxophonist/percussionist Crystal Taliefero.

        Mr. John rejoined him for the encore, starting with Mr. Joel's “My Life” and volleying back and forth with “The Bitch is Back,” You May Be Right” and “Bennie and the Jets.”

        They also paid tribute to the piano pounder who first took on rock's guitar heroes, doing Jerry Lee Lewis' “Great Balls of Fire.”

        They returned to their own prodigious bodies of work with “Candle In the Wind” before closing their evening of classic rock with the obvious finale, Mr. Joel's “Piano Man.”

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