Fred Prouser/ReutersThe billionaire financier Leon D. Black celebrated his 60th birthday with some 200 people, who were treated to a show by Elton John, below.

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When the billionaire buyout titan Stephen A. Schwarzman gave himself a boom-era-defining 60th birthday party in 2007, the global economy was soaring.

Four years and one financial crisis later, the world looks very different. But not much has changed in the private equity world — at least when it comes to birthday parties.

Last Saturday night, the financier Leon D. Black celebrated his 60th with a blowout at his oceanfront estate in Southampton, on Long Island. After a buffet dinner featuring a seared foie gras station, some 200 guests took in a show by Elton John. The pop music legend, who closed with “Crocodile Rock,” was paid at least $1 million for the hour-and-a-half performance.

“The great Sir Elton John performing at my friend Leon Black’s fabulous 60th bday,” wrote the fashion designer Vera Wang on her Facebook page. “I had the honor of dressing his wife, my friend, Debra Black, the hostess! If there was ever a great family … this was it! Xx Vera”

The stars of music and fashion collided with a who’s who of Wall Street. Revelers included Michael R. Milken, the junk-bond pioneer and Mr. Black’s boss at Drexel Burnham Lambert in the 1980s; Julian H. Robertson Jr. , the hedge fund investor; Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs; and Mr. Schwarzman, head of the Blackstone Group.

Rounding out the guest list were politicians including Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, who rubbed elbows with media celebrities like Martha Stewart and Howard Stern.