"I pushed it more than I should have," he said at the time.

Three months later, on June 12th, 2002, Joel was traveling in his 1999 Mercedes-Benz in East Hampton when, according to a police report, he cut the wheel sharply while making a turn and slammed into a pole and fire well. His air bag inflated, but his face was swollen and bruised. A breath test was not administered and he refused medical attention.

Soon after the accident, Joel checked in for a 10-day stay at Silver Hill Hospital, an exclusive rehab center in Connecticut, for alcohol abuse.

Joel himself blames his woes to a lack of companionship. On the "Today" show he admitted the one aspect of his life that's lacking is "a long-term successful relationship with a woman."

Not that he hasn't sought one. Following a nervous breakdown after a bad breakup at age 21, Joel met his first wife, Elizabeth Weber - an older women for whom he wrote "Just The Way You Are.

She was the guiding force in his early career and, by the time Joel and Weber divorced in 1982, he was an international superstar who would eventually produce 35 Top 40 hits and win five Grammy Awards.

While his first marriage was unraveling, he met supermodel Christie Brinkley on the chic island of St. Barts. She inspired the tune "Uptown Girl." They were married in 1985 and had a daughter, Alexa.

By 1993, the model and the music man were separated, and they divorced the next year.

Joel found comfort with Long Island artist Carolyn Beegan, then Long Island reporter Trish Bergin in 2000. Joel's relationship with Bergin fell apart after she spurned his marriage proposal.

Following Joel's check-in to Silver Hill, acquaintances said they were surprised that he was abusing alcohol, saying his drinking didn't seem out of control. Friends said he'd drink sake at a local sushi restaurant and was a connoisseur of fine wines and food, dining at high-profile places like Nick & Toni's and Della Femina.

But other friends noted in reports that Joel would freely indulge while out with his buddies.

However, at the time, they also added that Joel never drank when he was with his 17 year-old daughter, Alexa.

"He's a great father," a source said.

Nonetheless, the passenger seat where Alexa had sat on January 25th, 2003, just hours before the accident, was shredded in the crash, and Brinkley has lashed out at Joel over the future safety of their daughter.

Joel has not been seen or heard since the incident. But locals say he is not, again, alone.

"Theater Talk," the New York City PBS talk show that offers interviews with top theatre celebrities and writers, will feature chats with dancers Elizabeth Parkinson, Keith Roberts and John Selya. All three star in the new Billy Joel musical "Movin' Out," which features direction and choreography by Twyla Tharp. The program will also include an interview with Katherine Oliver, Mayor Bloomberg's new Commissioner of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting. Olivier will discuss how she and her office are trying to promote New York theatre.

"Movin' Out," a collaboration between pop legend Joel and choreographer Tharp, plays Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre, 226 West 46th Street. The bookless show moves seamlessly from Billy Joel hit to Billy Joel hit, using the lyrics and Tharp's rigorous, demanding choreography to trace a tale about five friends and lovers across three decades. The story follows the travails of Brenda, Eddie and Tony, names familiar to any owner of Joel's breakthrough 1977 album, "The Stranger."

Hosted by New York Post theatre columnist Michael Riedel and producer Susan Haskins, "Theatre Talk" airs late Friday nights at midnight on WNET/Thirteen. Check local listings for air times in Boston, Hartford and Washington, DC.

"How are you going to give someone a Breathalyzer who's going to the hospital?" he asked. "You're talking about a tough situation."

According to Sag Harbor Village Police Chief Tom Fabiano, Mr. Joel had had surgery on a deviated septum a week earlier and was bruised and bandaged even before the crash. The chief also reported that a police officer accompanied Mr. Joel in the medevac helicopter to ascertain whether he was intoxicated, but could not establish probable cause for charging him. Once Mr. Joel entered the hospital, medical details became confidential.

Although police have another breath screening device that measures alcohol content, called "Alert," which can be used at accidents, Mr. Joel's bloodied state after impact prevented its use, according to Chief Fabiano. Captain Tanaglia concurred that in a situation when "there's blood around the mouth, you can't use it."

Dan Rosette, a spokesman for Stony Brook University Medical Center, said that new federal regulations, which will take effect in April, prohibit hospitals from releasing personal information, such as whether a patient's blood was tested for alcohol. "Our hands are really tied," he said.

Even if a hospital test showed that the alcohol content of Mr. Joel's was above legal limits, the evidence would not be admissible in court, Captain Tanaglia said. Once a driver has entered a hospital, he said, police could administer a blood test using their own blood kits - but the results would only be obtainable when someone else was injured.

A familiar person on the East End who has promoted local baymen's causes, Mr. Joel owns houses in Sag Harbor and on North Haven, the latter of which is for sale. He sold his East Hampton house to Jerry Seinfeld a few years ago for $32 million and recently bought another in Centre Island, closer to his native Hicksville.

Mr. Joel's ex-wife, the former model Christie Brinkley, was seen taking pictures of the vehicle at the Sag Harbor Firehouse on the morning after the crash. She also released a statement of concern for their daughter, Alexa, who is 17.

The show - which follows several friends through their teen years, Vietnam and their descent into decadence and recovery, all set to Billy Joel songs - has become Sweetheart Central.

"It's a pretty sexy show, so it's not difficult to fall in love," says Elizabeth Parkinson, who plays Eddie's "Uptown Girl" but goes home every night with Sergeant O'Leary - her husband of three years, Scott Wise.

As another dancer points out, the Richard Rodgers Theatre has a lot of long stairways and nooks and crannies to canoodle in.

"We have one couple - a newer couple - and they didn't tell anyone they were dating, but we'd always see them sneaking a kiss in the wings," she says.

She's probably referring to ensemble members Philip Gardner and Jill Nicklaus, who've been dating about six months.

"Sparks began to fly on the stairwell," Philip recalls of the six-flight walk up to Jill's dressing room.

And it's not just because Jill wears a skin-colored unitard and does a headstand in the show that made him fall head over heels for her:

"It's the conversations," he says, firmly. "We're both over-analytical, we both go to therapy and we have coinciding issues."

Given the make-up of "Movin' Out" - 28 dancers, 10 musicians, nearly all of them in their 20s and 30s and cute, to boot - it can't be too hard to, well, make-out.

For their part, David Gomez and Holly Cruikshank, who play the lead lovers on matinee days, thank Twyla Tharp for playing Cupid, whether she intended to or not.

Though the two became friends when they did "Contact" together, it was Tharp, the show's director and choreographer, who first noticed the sparks.

"I have the hardest time finding guys to partner me," says Holly, who's 6 feet tall, an inch or two shorter than David.

"Luckily, Twyla put us together. She kept saying, 'You guys have this chemistry!'"

But it wasn't until the show's tryout in Chicago last June that David finally made a move.

"I had a car and asked her to Taco Bell one night," he says. (Dancers eat at Taco Bell?)

"I didn't know if she wanted to eat tacos or be with me, but it worked out."

Apparently. When they dance together as Tony and Brenda, they get to kiss three times - and the attraction is obvious.

"We're not faking it," David says. "It's definitely a real kiss, and it's been a real kiss from the beginning."

At least they get to kiss each other: John Selya and Ashley Tuttle have been a couple for seven years - they were dancers at American Ballet Theatre, and share an apartment on the Upper West Side - but in "Movin' Out," their characters (he's Eddie, she's Judy, his best friend's girlfriend) love someone else.

"Jealousy is definitely an issue for me, but we're not at the "Othello" stage yet," John says.

"I can't say I love watching Ashley kiss another guy, but I understand duty calls. And I'm pretty confident in my own kissing, so I'm not that threatened."

As far as Ashley's concerned, whatever kisses and sweet nothings her stage lover whispers into her ear are nothing compared to that bar scene John has in the second act.

"OK, so John has to see Ben [Bowman] and me kiss a lot," she says. "I have to see all those girls hanging over him with whips in the "Captain Jack" scene."

She does, however, enjoy another scene - when Judy gets to kick Eddie around.

"It's great because I don't get so mad at him at home," she says. "If he forgets to put the milk away or doesn't put the dishes in the dishwasher, at least I have that outlet!"

"Movin' Out," the new Broadway musical collaboration between pop legend Billy Joel and choreographer Twyla Tharp will launch its national tour in February of 2004, a spokesperson confirmed.

Dates and its extensive list of tour stops will be announced shortly. The tour is expected to hit major cities across the country. Producers of the Broadway run - James L. Nederlander, Hal Luftig, Scott E. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Clear Channel Entertainment and Emanuel Azenberg - will also present the tour.

The bookless show, currently residing at Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre, uses Joel's song lyrics and Tharp's choreography to tell the story of five friends and lovers across three decades through love, war and loss. There is no dialogue and all songs are performed by pianist-singer Michael Cavanaugh, who sings non-stop and heads an on-stage band during the show.

Following a try-out at Chicago's Shubert Theatre, the show officially opened on The Great White Way October 24th, 2002, following previews since September 30th, 2002. Recently dubbed a new musical (by the Tony Awards Administration Committee), the production that topped many end-of-the-year lists will vie for the top Tony prize for Best Musical.

The song-list includes many of Joel's hit songs and even interpolates some of his classical work. "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" functions as a sort of overture, introducing the characters. The story kicks off with "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" and moves through other songs as the popular "We Didn't Start The Fire," "Big Shot," "Uptown Girl" and "Captain Jack," as well as more obscure early work like "James," "Summer, Highland Falls," and "Prelude/Angry Young Man." As a final curtain coda, Cavanaugh belts out the apropos "New York State of Mind."

The Broadway cast, all highly experienced dancers, is headed up by leads Elizabeth Parkinson as Brenda, John Selya as Eddie, Keith Roberts as Tony, Benjamin G. Bowman as James and Ashley Tuttle as Judy.

The designer team includes Santo Loquasto (sets), Suzy Benzinger (costumes), Donald Holder (lighting) and Brian Ruggles and Peter Fitzgerald (sound).

Gal pal's a grad student.

Billy Joel is singing a happier tune these days: He's making sweet music with his gorgeous new gal pal and is set to get back on the road.

The troubled "Piano Man," who wrapped his car around a Long Island tree on January 25th, 2003 - his second smash-up in eight months - has fallen for a stunning young West Virginia native named Kate.

The pop-star's spokeswoman, Claire Mercuri, confirmed the love match but refused to reveal the brunette beauty's last name, saying, "Joel didn't want to talk about his private life."

And sources say Joel's girlfriend, a grad student, will likely be with the singer when he resumes his "Face 2 Face" Tour with Elton John next Friday night in Alabama.

Joel, 53, had been singing the blues recently. He escaped serious injury in a car crash in East Hampton on June 12th, 2002. A cop at the time was quoted as saying, "There were no signs of alcohol."

Days later, Joel checked into a Connecticut substance-abuse and psychiatric center.

He told The Post he went into rehab because, "I was on a bender. I was drinking too much, and I said, 'This is stupid.'"

And last month, he smashed his Mercedes-Benz S600 in Sag Harbor. Because there was no smell of alcohol on Joel or in the car, cops did not give a Breathalyzer test.

After the crash, Joel's supermodel ex-wife, Christie Brinkley, said she's "worried" about the accident-prone musician driving around their daughter, Alexa, 17.

"I'm worried about Billy, but, like any mother would be, I am alarmed and concerned about my child's safety by this frightening pattern of accidents," she said in a statement.

"Apparently, his new girlfriend looks enough like Alexa that even the locals are confused," says a Hamptons spy.

The News says it stands by the story. But Joel's publicist tells The Post's Kieran Crowley, "It wasn't Alexa. It was Kate."

A new romance is just what Joel needs. He's been at loose ends since Carolyn Beegan dumped him last year. Then, the red-haired painter turned down a 10-carat diamond reconciliation ring he offered her. His last girlfriend, Boston public relations exec Anne Maxwell, is said to have put him "on hold" until he tamed his drinking.

But drinking and loneliness seem to go hand-in-hand for the entertainer. Beegan dropped him when she found out he'd been sneaking around with newswoman Trish Bergin. Shortly after, it was Bergin's turn to ditch Joel, who promptly checked himself in for 10 days of alcohol rehab.

And just before his recent run-in with a tree, Joel had been dining with Beegan, who's currently on a five-week vacation in Belize.

We hope Joel's new relationship works out, because he's just no good at being single. "The happiest times in my life were when my relationships were going well when I was in love with someone, and someone was loving me," he told New York Times magazine last September. "But in my whole life I haven't met the person I can sustain a relationship with yet. So I'm discontented about that. I'm angry with myself. I have regrets."

Success is no consolation. "You don't sleep with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," Joel said. "You don't get hugged by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and you don't have children with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."

"Billy turned them down flat," a close friend tells "Globe." "He thinks he can ride this thing out without any help. But he's wrong - dead wrong!"

And experts say the 53 year-old's string of traffic accidents and penchant for booze indicate he could have a "death wish."

"I think it's already suicidal to be drinking as heavily as he has been," says Dr. Jamie Turndorf, a New York psychologist who has not treated Joel.

"And his history of serious automobile and motorcycle accidents point to a self-destructive pattern - certainly a death wish."

But Joel's not the only one who could have been severely injured or killed in his latest crash in Sag Harbor, NY, January 25th, 2003, that destroyed the passenger side of his car.

Just hours earlier, his 17 year-old daughter Alexa was riding in the front passenger seat, say sources.

"I'm alarmed and concerned about my child's safety by this frightening pattern of accidents," said her mom Brinkley in a statement.

A pal of the "Piano Man," whose many hits include "Uptown Girl," "Allentown," and "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" also tells us the singer complained of relationship problems and looked depressed just days before the accident.

"Billy said he's so lonely he sometimes wished he could just go to sleep for days," the pal says. "He's said that before - but never so bitterly or with such hopelessness."

And a Hamptons pal of Joel tells "Globe": "Like a lot of people who know Billy, I'm worried about him going over the edge and killing himself."

Joel's recent brush with death while driving began on the night before the Super Bowl, when he met with on-and-off galpal, Carolyn Beegan, 36, and real estate agent Biana Stepanian at The American Hotel in Sag Harbor.

For several hours, the trio sat on sofa chairs in the lobby. As they chatted, sources say they were served "at least two bottles of red wine, a quantity of champagne and several cognacs."

And the Southampton Press reports that two sources say they saw Joel drink "several glasses of wine" during dinner.

Joel's spokeswoman, Claire Mercuri insists that he drank no alcohol that night. "I'm sure his other dinner companions were drinking," Mercuri tells "Globe." "But he was not."

Still, shortly after leaving the hotel, Joel had a horrifying accident in his new blue, four-door Mercedes-Benz.

As he drove south along Route 114, the car swerved from the road and rammed into a 15-foot high tree from which hung a sign saying, "Trail's End," say sources.

The impact left the car crushed and the singer was bruised and bleeding behind the wheel in his seat harness.

"I was watching my TV when I heard an explosion outside," Jill Schellinger, who lives on the property, tells "Globe." "Billy demolished my antique mailbox, hit the tree and then his car spun into the road."

"He would have been dead if anyone had been driving along the other way."

Paramedics treated Joel for injuries before removing him from the wreckage.

"He was awake and opened his locked door for us," says Sag Harbor Fire Chief Matthew McAree. "He had facial cuts and maybe a broken nose."

After rescuers freed the singer, an ambulance took him to the East Hampton Airport, where a helicopter then flew him to Stony Brook Hospital.

There, he was treated for minor head injuries and released at 7:30am the following morning, say sources.

The worst damage to his Mercedes-Benz was on the passenger side, where the car hit the tree. The front passenger seat was "totally destroyed," says a source.

His alarmed ex-wife Brinkley was seen taking pictures of the wreck. A source suggested Brinkley plans to seek legal action banning him from driving their daughter Alexa.

According to a source, Joel now says he's agreed to hire a chauffeur to drive when Alexa is with him.

The singer's other car accident occurred in East Hampton June 12th, 2002 when he lost control of his 1999 Mercedes-Benz and slammed into a fire hydrant flanked by two metal posts.

The vehicle was demolished and cops said they found no evidence of drinking.

But two days later, Joel checked himself into Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut, for a 10-day booze rehab.

In the January 25th, 2003 crash, Sag Harbor cops also found no sign of booze. But Chief Thomas Fabiano admitted officers did not give Joel sobriety tests, explaining, "We did not have probable cause."

Published reports claim Joel's blood was later tested at Stony Brook Hospital and showed he was not legally drunk. But a hospital spokesperson refused to confirm to "Globe" that such a test was made. Another source says Joel underwent cosmetic surgery on his eyes just a week before the accident and suggests that he may have been taking painkillers.

The rocker also was injured in a 1982 accident when a car ran a stop sign and hit him while he was riding a motorcycle, say sources. He suffered a broken wrist and left thumb in the incident.

Sources blame Joel's melancholy state of mind and drinking on his soured love life.

His June crash came two days before former lover Trish Bergin married another man. The blonde TV newsgal had previously complained about his boozing and finally dumped him after catching him in bed with another gal, say sources.

After getting out of rehab, Joel hooked up again with Beegan. She had ended their six-year relationship in January 2000 because she said he was still carrying a torch for his ex-wife Brinkley.

When he met with Beegan and Stepanian on the night of his recent accident, Joel reportedly spoke with them about his romances with Boston-based galpal, Anne Maxwell and a 20 year-old beauty he was also chasing.

Insiders say Joel's also depressed about his career. He believes that his record label will dump him if he doesn't come up with a new blockbuster album.

"The way he's been acting lately, Billy seems really down and I'm afraid he could be suicidal," says another friend.

Adds a source, "To hear him complain, you'd think he had nothing left to live for. Billy goes on and on about his label dumping him, women not being able to stand him, letting down the people he really loves and how they'd all be better off without him."

"He's a very lucky man," one of the fire officials on the scene told the New York Daily News. An alcohol breath test was not administered.

Joel's last album of new songs was "River of Dreams," released in 1993. However, his "Movin' Out" has been a hit on Broadway.

Elton John scored critical acclaim for his 2001 album, "Songs From The West Coast," which delivered hits "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" and "I Want Love."

Whatever his personal problems, Joel's musical chops remain intact. His TV performance of "New York State of Mind" after September 11th, 2001 for "America: A Tribute To Heroes" was a touching highlight of that program.

And likely he'd give this bit of advice from "My Life" anyway to nosey types.

"I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright/I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home/I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life/Go ahead with your own life and leave me alone."

Joel retains a sense of humor through it all. He described his current concert partner as "old-fashioned aristocracy English rock star."

"When you walk into Elton's dressing room, it's like the Taj Mahal. There are layers of glory, like the glory that was Rome," Joel told Rolling Stone.

Such banter has been typical when both singers have appeared on late-night TV talk shows.

Wednesday's concert at the SBC Center is three concerts in one, with both artists performing songs together and separately with their own bands.

Joel backup singer and San Antonio native Beth Hooker calls the "Face 2 Face" concerts a fun mutual admiration society.

"The exchange of energy between the two of them is indescribable," Hooker said from Nashville, Tennessee. "It's all about the music."

"There might be a little (mess-up) here and there, but it's fresh," Joel said, red-faced. "It's FRESH."

Freshness aside, it was hard not to feel sorry for Joel as he struggled with sound quality, lighting cues, the tuning of his piano and his vocal abilities. At times, his singing could barely be heard over the music; at others, he sounded rusty and hoarse.

Awkwardly trying to twirl the microphone when he stood to sing, pounding on an electric guitar for one tune, mopping his profusely sweating head with a series of black towels...could this be the Grammy-winning veteran who toured the world and dominated the radio in the 1970s and '80s?

Luckily, Joel's show was filled with material the crowd knew by heart, including "Don't Ask Me Why," "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant," "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," "An Innocent Man," "New York State of Mind," "Only The Good Die Young" and "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me."

His performance might have been flawed, but those songs still had a powerful, pleasurable resonance. Also, Joel's six-member band featured a standout backup singer and percussionist, Crystal Taliefero, who superbly filled in the gaps.

"Besides playing piano rock, what could these two possibly have in common?"

John, in a fuchsia suit with rhinestone buttons, was a human sequin compared to Joel, who was wearing a traditional black suit and t-shirt.

"Captain Fantastic" blew kisses to the audience like visiting royalty. Joel walked a crooked line around the stage as he pretended to recklessly steer an automobile (a reference to a car accident he had last month).

And the two men's hair. Let's just say that Joel, 53, has embraced his baldness. John, 55, is still undecided.

The contrast in appearances made their "Face 2 Face" dueling-piano tour stop a gem. Looking like mismatched players from "The Odd Couple" and "La Cage aux Folles," Joel and John spent more than three hours exploring why their musical partnership works.

In doing so they also invited a sold-out crowd to reminisce about each artist's 30-odd-year catalog of hits, rarely played pleasures and a few covers.

Following their grand pianos' ascent from a trap door in the crescent-shaped stage, Joel aptly began the first verse of early John hit "Your Song." His coarse delivery had a lower timbre than John's, whose voice also has deepened with age.

"This is a song I wrote for my second ex-wife," quipped Joel as he lead the duo into Just the Way You Are.

"This is a song I wrote for my second ex-husband," countered John before beginning a duet of "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me."

Hearing them sing and play keyboards with each other demonstrated how deft each is as a pianist. John proved himself the superior vocalist, rendering his parts in "Just The Way You Are" and "My Life" as if he had been singing them his entire career.

The majority of songs made one parallel between Joel and John evident: Their hits evoke memories of the times that are as vivid as the memory of the lyrics.

John's hourlong solo set was a return to his early '70s ascent up the charts. The synthesized pipe-organ instrumental "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" was made anthemic by his five-man band. That gave way to "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" and the soulful "Philadelphia Freedom."

"The Wasteland" and "I Want Love," two songs from his most recent, Grammy-nominated album, "Songs From The West Coast," were reminders that John and songwriting partner Bernie Taupin are still creating. They were eclipsed by a melancholy "Rocket Man" and a gospel-stomp version of "Take Me To The Pilot."

Joel is one of the most animated American pop pianists ever. He's at his best in concert on doo-wop uptempo numbers like "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" and "Only The Good Die Young." Ballads like "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" and the socio-political "Allentown" haven't aged nearly as well.

Joel has a good sense of self and the limits of age. For the echoey slow dance "An Innocent Man," he delegated the falsetto chorus to a female back-up singer, mouthing the words as if he were still singing.

It was the duet finale that summed up the most obvious common denominator between Joel and John. After pounding through the terse chords of "Bennie and The Jets" together, they rolled out covers of the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" and Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire."

With a nod to those rock legends and praise for emerging pianist Norah Jones' Grammy wins, Joel and John closed the night singing "Piano Man" together. Their tie is to be remembered as the two ivory ticklers who led rock and pop between the eras.

"What's with the frickin' temperature here?" Joel asked before playing "Just The Way You Are," written, he said, "for my first ex-wife." This time John took the first verse.

"Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" came next, swallowed in the majestic grandeur of the building chords. Hearts stopped as John's band kicked in. The song drew the first of several standing ovations.

John then took over the concert with his five-man band on "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding." Ageless long-haired guitarist Davey Johnstone hammered the riffs as brutally as he did some 30 years ago.

Drummer Nigel Olsson, like Johnstone a member of John's original band, remains one of the best at his instrument, and his integral backing vocals still match John's perfectly.

"Someone Saved My Life Tonight" began with the barrel house piano run that was so characteristic of John's classic '70s period guided by the late producer Gus Dudgeon. The band's lush vocal harmonies filled the arena.

There was no denying the fun of "Philadelphia Freedom" that came at 8:30pm. The standing ovation that followed was inevitable.

John stepped into the present with a couple of songs from his much-hailed latest album, "Songs From The West Coast." He performed "The Wasteland" and the haunting "I Want Love."

"Rocket Man" mesmerized this crowd and had it swaying along to the gentle beat. It received an extended workout.

John blew through hit after hit, from "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" to "Take Me To The Pilot" to "Crocodile Rock."

"Tiny Dancer" was brassy marvel with slide guitar work from Johnstone. "Saturday Night's Alright (for Fighting)" is a loutish, distorted delight. Then Long Island's original angry singer took his best shot at around 9:30pm. He packed a wallop Joel's tongue-twisting "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" set a cozier tone, more everyman than the superstar he is.

"Prelude/Angry Young Man" took the audience back to 1976 and "Turnstiles," when he was the Sinatra-Springsteen upstart. He punched at the air like a boxer. He proved to be much more human than the slightly aloof, lovable John.

John joked that he ought to try playing the piano backwards so he could face those fans seated behind him "because (Jimi) Hendrix would have done it somehow."

"I do want to thank you for buying the really (expletive) seats," he told the audience at his back. "These are not cheap seats. I ought to be going to your house and doing your windows."

"Allentown" and "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" were blissful marvels, examples of the young Joel in his prime.

Joel took the time to praise his famous partner, too, and his six-man band (including a very cool shout out to Beth Hooker, a native San Antonian and former member of Stardust who is a long-time back-up singer in Joel's band).

"An Innocent Man" from 1983 conjured the Drifters.

The blue ballad "New York State of Mind" struck a nerve here with the mostly middle-aged yuppie audience.

He played the part of strutting, mugging frontman on "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me," a slap at the early '80s New Wave movement (Joel even threw his microphone stand).

Joel closed his portion of the show with "Only The Good Die Young."

The Joel-John shootout ended with both singers performing together again on piano, this time backed by both bands - including playing the monster hit "You May Be Right."

"My Life" was a hit for Billy Joel 25 years ago, but its lyrics sound like something he might have written last week:

I don't need you to worry for me 'cause I'm all right
I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home
I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life
Go ahead with your own life, and leave me alone...

As he resumes his "Face 2 Face" Tour with Elton John this month, fans may indeed have reason to worry about the headline-grabbing "Piano Man."

The first disconcerting report came 11 months ago after the duo's concert at Madison Square Garden in New York. Although fans were warned before the show that Mr. Joel had a cold, The New York Times described him as a rambling, barely awake performer who couldn't remember his own lyrics: "Mr. Joel seemed to have ingested something quite a bit stronger than cough syrup."

The rest of the tour was quickly canceled - officially, due to an "inflamed vocal cord" - and in June, the singer-pianist made news again when he slammed his Mercedes-Benz into a pole on Long Island.

A week later, he checked himself into a Connecticut alcohol and substance-abuse center.

"I was on a bender for more than two months, and I wanted to end it," he later told The New York Post. "But that doesn't mean I'm never going to have a glass of wine again - it's one of the basic food groups."

Last month, the 53 year-old singer crashed his Mercedes-Benz sedan again on Long Island, this time into a tree, and spent several days in the hospital. Police didn't give the star a Breathalyzer test, reportedly because his face was bloodied and bruised.

Reckless excess isn't exactly unheard of in rock and roll. Sir Elton, before he got sober, was legendary for his booze and coke-fueled antics.

But fans have come to expect down-to-earth behavior from Mr. Joel, a working-class hero famous, in part, because he looks more like a pizza-store manager than a rock-star.

His year of living dangerously certainly didn't put a damper on ticket sales for the duo's Dallas concert, which sold-out soon after the box office opened. Yet with floor and mezzanine seats priced at an upper-class $175, not every concert on the tour is selling-out.

A March 18th, 2003 show in Little Rock, Arkansas, was canceled after only 4,000 seats were sold for an 18,000-seat arena, and there are scads of tickets left for Wednesday's show at the SBC Center in San Antonio, Texas.