update: A January concert date featuring a joint-headlining performance from Billy Joel [ tickets ] and Elton John [ tickets ] has been confirmed, supporting speculation that the singer-songwriters will announce tour plans for 2001.

Joel and John are scheduled to take the stage at Washington's Tacoma Dome on Jan. 24 for an event dubbed "Face to Face: Billy Joel & Elton John in Concert," the first in what is likely to develop into a series of dates from the duo. Tickets for the event range from $45 to $175 for VIP tickets, the latter of which are currently being offered by Ticketmaster Online in an Internet pre-sale that began on Monday (11/13). (LiveDaily is a publication of Ticketmaster Online--CitySearch.)

Last week, the New York Daily News reported that Joel and John were in the planning stages of a joint American tour. Though no official announcement has come from either performer's camp, the Washington date indicates that plans for the outing are moving forward.

Assuming that the two confirm a full-fledged tour, it will be the duo's fourth such outing, following similar ventures in 1994, 1995 and 1998.

John is currently on tour in Europe, and is set to hit the U.S. for a series of dates in the South that begins on Dec. 2 in Louisiana, and runs until a Dec. 10 stop in Alabama, according to his official website.

Joel--who has mostly shied away from pop music in recent years in order to devote more time to composing classical music--has been tapped to host the Nov. 29 PBS special "Piano Grand! A Smithsonian Celebration." The show will celebrate the 300th anniversary of the instrument, according to a press release from Maryland Public Television.