Most of us old enough to be interested in a Lionel Richie concert might remember the former Commodore’s hosting gig at the 1985 “American Music Awards,” during which he proclaimed every other thing that happened that night “Out-RAGEOUS!” I don’t remember the show being all that outrageous, honestly, except that by the next morning, all the DJs were playing the clip of Lionel saying that word, over and over again. They may have been making fun, but Lionel stuck with it, calling his 1986 tour the “Outrageous” tour and even putting a song called “Outrageous” on his 2004 album “Just For You.”

At Sunday night’s satisfyingly hit-packed show at Hollywood’s Hard Rock Live, a pumped and energetic Richie was pimping a different phrase, one no less enthusiastic than “Outrageous!” but much more obvious.

“We’ll be dong this…ALL NIGHT LONG!,” Richie kept saying, letting the name of his 1983 hit (and eventual finale) ring out to the expected appreciative screams of the crowd. Sadly, the show didn’t last all night (and excluded at least two big hits, “Truly” and “Lady,” the hit he wrote for Kenny Rogers and which he has done sometimes live.) Still, the proceedings lasted long enough to wedge in, at least whole or in part, pretty much everything else, including Richie’s solo chartbusters, some Commodores songs, a smattering of Van Halen’s “Jump” and even an interlude during “All Night Long” where he encouraged the crowd to “Dance like Beyonce!”

While the sight of Lionel Richie approximating the “Single Ladies” dance was pretty much worth the ticket price, the music remains the best reason to be there – and as the evening went on, and the hits kept coming and the people kept singing, you remembered just why this man has been famous for almost 40 years. Wanna know? In my humble opinion, it’s his songwriting, his ability to channel, in the most unapologetically sentimental and sincere way, the excited bliss of romantic happiness, often the tried and true kind (“My Love,” “Stuck On You,” the wedding classic “Three Times A Lady”), heartbreak (“Oh, No,” “Still”) or just wanting to fiesta forever (“All Night Long”).

The show started about half an hour late, but quickly jumped into the groove – no opening acts, just a brief intro by a band led by R&B songwriter and producer Chuckii Booker, and then Richie, striding onto stage to sing 2004′s “Just For You.” Interestingly, even though he’s got a new album out, that was the only song of the evening written later than, like, 1985. He seemed to know that his audience, made mostly of couples from their late 30s to mid 60s, fell in love to, broke up to, danced to and grew up to his music, and that’s what they wanted to hear.

And, after a slightly rough patch where Richie and the band couldn’t quite synch up the beats and their cues – he explained they’d been off for a few months, the hits were what they heard. Richie’s voice got stronger throughout the night, and it was clear that he was enjoying himself – flirting with the crowd and chiding them for singing his songs back to him, he gleefully encouraged a few sing-alongs himself, including “Stuck On You” and “Brick House.” “Just To Be Close To You,” the Commodores’ long, call-and-response seduction classic, got a particularly warm and loud welcome as audience members shouted the climactic “For the moment, baby, for the sugar-sugar-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah” part.

(Yes, I was one of them.)

Call Lionel Richie sentimental. Call him corny. Call him retro. Call him obviously pleased with his own fabulousness. He’d probably agree. And so would his fans, although they probably can’t hear you over “Dancing On The Ceiling.”