LEON RUSSELL PLAYS WITH ELTON JOHN

Elton John was wrapping up a nearly 10-minute rendition of "Rocket Man" at Madison Square Garden last night when his roadies wheeled a second piano onstage and set it up with the lightning speed of a Nascar pit crew. Two nights earlier John had inducted Leon Russell into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame across the city at the Waldorf Astoria, so it wasn't a huge surprise when Russell slowly shuffled onstage and sat down behind the piano, looking like the last surviving Confederate soldier with his massive white beard and cane. It was the first time that Russell had stood on the Madison Square Garden stage since his legendary performance at George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, and he seemed genuinely touched by the standing ovation.