From the opening bars of Easy to the final flourish of All Night Long, Lionel Richie’s Saturday night show at the O2 was all-out entertainment. In front of a crowd who would have first encountered Lionel on vinyl, he rollicked through his greatest hits, stopping only briefly to play Just Go, the eponymous single from his latest album.

Dressed in tight leather trousers, the 59-year-old’s wardrobe hasn’t changed much during his career. Luckily, his voice hasn’t either — a soaring, soulful tenor that belted out two hours of big ballads.

Richie was backed by a five-piece band, which included the most overworked saxophonist in the history of popular music. No cheesy cliché was left unturned, but it was mightily enjoyable stuff. There was the schmaltz of Stuck On You, the understated Tender Heart and the Eighties rock of Dancing on the Ceiling. Elsewhere, Richie joked that surviving 40 years in music was nothing compared with putting up with his “it girl” daughter, Nicole, for 27. “That’s harder than rock ’n’ roll,” he quipped.

Hello and Three Times A Lady were hard work, too, with Richie beginning to sound like the black Barry Manilow many critics have compared him to. But as the congas of All Night Long kicked in, we were given a triumphant finale.

Forty years on, Richie still deserves our endless love.