TORONTO - "I had a dream, I had an awesome dream," to quote Lionel Richie's Say You, Say Me.

People were at a Lionel Richie concert in Toronto and they were booing him before he even started singing.

The reason?

Well, in actuality, the 57-year-old singer took the stage at Roy Thomson Hall about 50 minutes later than scheduled on Monday night for his first concert in our city in many, many years.

But human beings, the fickle creatures that they are, did a quick about-face, and jeers turned into cheers as Richie finally arrived looking all silky smooth in a shiny black shirt, black velvet pants and polished black shoes.

This showbiz veteran is also nothing if not a shameless charmer.

"I missed you," said the one-time leader of funky '70s outfit The Commodores, before heading over to his piano to open the evening with Hello, the first of many solo shcmaltzy '80s pop ballads he would trot out over the next hour-and-50-minutes.

Backed by a tight five-piece band -- with a special shout out to his saxophone player -- Richie was full of energy and extremely chatty with the crowd despite their earlier protestations. (Ushers were later heard telling people that the delay was due to VIPS and Roy Thomson Hall season-ticket holders who had not yet arrived in their seats. Richie told the Sun it was a technical matter.)

Richie is touring in support of his latest solo album, Coming Home, and the first and second singles, I Call It Love (the video for which stars his daugher Nicole) and What You Are, were dutifully played.

But it was his staggering list of both solo and Commodores hits that the people -- the crowd was predominantly middle-aged and older -- had clearly come to hear, and Richie didn't disappoint in that regard.

"I'm moving to Toronto!" was Richie's reaction after a spirited singalong session.

I don't blame him.

Women held up placards and waved at him from the hall's upper levels while below members of the audience routinely rushed the stage to shake his hand or ask for an autograph.

Richie joked about getting some phone numbers but I wouldn't be surprised if he actually did.

Panty-removing solo ballads included My Love, Ballerina Girl, Truly, Crazy In Love, Stuck On You, You're My Angel, Endless Love, (Lady) You Bring Me Up and Say You, Say Me. Upbeat numbers Running With The Night, Dancing On The Ceiling and All Night Long (All Night) stood out, if nothing else, as guilty pleasures.

For me, they were all eclipsed by such Commodores tunes as Easy, Sail On, Sweet Love, Just To Be Close To You and Three Times A Lady (although truthfully it was hard to get Eddie Murphy's Buckwheat version Fee Tines A Mady out of my head).

And getting to hear the Commodores classic Brick House, which Richie admitted remains the most requested song of his carrer, really rattled the old floorboards. (Mine, not Roy Thomson Hall's.)

Still, Richie did hold out until the very end of his concert, before the encore, for that particular funky tune.

"Before you make love you've got to have a little foreplay," he explained, charming to the end.