Piano Man Billy Joel and Gold Dust Woman Stevie Nicks make a mismatched but thrilling pair at the Linc

When Billy Joel and Elton John joined forces for the first time in 1994, it turned out to be a match made in heaven. Their “Face to Face” tours would go on to fill stadiums for the next 16 years, until an apparent falling-out — followed by John’s prolonged retirement tour — put an end to the lucrative venture.

So Joel couldn’t be blamed for hoping that coheadliner lightning might strike twice, but based on the “Two Icons: One Night” concert at the Linc Friday, it seems unlikely that he and Stevie Nicks will enjoy the same longevity. An ocean may have separated the flamboyant British Rocket Man and the Noo Yawk Piano Man, but Nicks’ mystical West Coast Earth mother aura seemed a world apart.

The disconnect was evident early in Nicks’ 90-minute set, as the two shared the stage for “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” the duet Nicks originally performed with Tom Petty in 1981. Joel strolled onstage, mic stand in hand, sporting a bandit mask (what appeared to be a KN95 with eyeholes cut out) under a backward baseball cap. Other than a slight smile in response, it was clear that Nicks wouldn’t be participating in any such high jinks. (A reciprocal duet on Joel’s own “And So It Goes” reported from earlier in the tour seems to have been crossed off the setlist.)

The fact that these two would share a bill at all is a testament to time’s ability to combine entire decades into one undifferentiated blur. Joel and Nicks shared FM airwaves in the ‘70s and countless hours on MTV in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but few would have drawn much association between the two outside of a generic “classic rock” nostalgia. While each had their own fan contingents in the crowd, most in attendance could sing along with both.

Taken as individual performances, each set was satisfying.

At 75, Nicks’ wine-dark rasp remains entrancing, a bit thinner at the top and bottom of her range but otherwise strong. Dressed in layers of black and a succession of capes, shawls, and scarves, Nicks told meandering stories to set up hits like “Gypsy,” “Edge of Seventeen,” and “Rhiannon” as well as an occasional deep cut surprise (“I Sing for the Things” from 1985′s Rock a Little, making its live debut on this tour). A heavy, dirgelike “Gold Dust Woman” was a powerful highlight.

She used her first solo tour since 2017 to honor lost friends; in addition to “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” she and her band entered the stage to a recording of “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and covered “Free Fallin’,” all to pay tribute to Tom Petty. The set closed with an emotional “Landslide,” featuring musical director Waddy Wachtel on acoustic guitar, as images played onscreen of Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie, who died in November. Nicks was too choked up to speak at the song’s conclusion.

A brief flourish of “Ode to Joy” kicked off Joel’s set before veering into a spirited “My Life.” Promising good news and bad news, Joel regretted having no new material to play — a fact that’s been true for three decades now — before delivering the punchline: “So we can play the same old s— we did last time.” Cynicism aside, the stadium crowd roared their approval, and the umpteenth rendition of “Piano Man” was drowned out by the sing-along.

Joel’s carefully cultivated “regular schmo with a gig” persona played into the evening’s self-deprecating humor, as he regretted writing the high notes for “An Innocent Man” in his 30s, not expecting to be singing them well into his 70s (he nailed every one). He stepped away from the piano bench apologizing that, “I ain’t no frontman, I ain’t no Mick Jagger,” launching the band into a bit of “Start Me Up.”

It was one of several brief detours into other people’s material throughout the set. Others included a few lines of doo-wop classics while warming up for “The Longest Time,” multi-instrumentalist Crystal Taliefero singing “River Deep, Mountain High” in homage to Tina Turner in the midst of “River of Dreams,” and, most unlikely, guitarist Mike DelGuidice belting out Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” before “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.”

A few moments in the set were left open to multiple-choice options, the Linc crowd choosing latter-day favorite “Vienna” over hit “Just the Way You Are” and “Captain Jack” over “New York State of Mind.” That last one seemed to take Joel by surprise, though if he ever imagined that Philly would opt for a song praising the Big Apple, then he doesn’t know us as well as he thinks he does. But judging from Friday’s embracing response, he’ll always be welcome back.