The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 12 March 1998
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HERE
JOEL KEEPS CANDLE BURNING IT may be the most popular single of all time, but Billy Joel considers Candle in the Wind to be just another tune. With Sir Elton John promising himself not to perform his Princess Diana tribute again for a long time, it's been left up to Joel to deliver the original version of the song every night in the pianists' joint concert tour. Arriving in town yesterday afternoon for the pair's first Sydney show tonight, Joel said he's been performing the song regularly but doesn't consider it a mandatory inclusion in the set. "It's a song I like to do so I'll probably keep doing it," he said. "But the whole show works really well. That one song doesn't jump out of the box that much more than other songs but it's one that people like." Sir Elton snuck into Sydney separately on a private jet yesterday morning. Joel and Sir Elton are set to perform three sell-out shows at the Sydney Cricket Ground this week to a total of more than 120,000 fans. Their Face To Face world tour started in Perth two weeks ago to enthusiastic reviews. The pair made a brief visit to Australia together last year to perform at the opening ceremony of Melbourne's Crown casino. Joel and Sir Elton are two of the most successful musicians of their generation, with combined worldwide sales of more than 300 million albums. From Sydney, the tour moves to Adelaide and Melbourne.
