Poet laureate of pop, rock hasn’t lost a step

The “Piano Man” himself was in fine form as he kicked off his River of Dreams Tour in Portland Friday night.

Billy Joel wasted little time whipping the 9,000-plus fans packing the Cumberland County Civic Center into an early frenzy as he opened his nearly three-hour performance with a favorite from his album “The Bridge” — “A Matter of Trust.”

The extra time Joel’s road crew had leading up to the concert was apparent as they transformed the center into what sounded like a concert hall. The acoustics were excellent. Fans were treated to bone-rattling bass and crystal-clear treble and vocals without any distortion.

Joel’s songs — at least one from almost every album — were as good, or slightly better sounding, than their studio versions.

The 44-year-old poet laureate of pop and rock-and-roll tunes kept up a constant dialogue with the audience, first joking with the people sitting “behind” the stage about their crappy seats.

Joel, sporting a full beard, later proved there was no such thing as bad seats since the stage was devoid of any vision-restricting backdrop and he managed to face every direction at different points in the concert with a rotating piano and keyboard.

He delighted the crowd with a flawless execution of the intricate piano solo portion of early classic “Angry Young Man” from “Turnstiles,” and showed off his keyboard talent by going up one side of his Steinway and down the other during “I Go to Extremes.”

He previewed new song “Shades of Gray” from his “River of Dreams” album and encouraged the audience to help him determine whether to keep it in his concert set during the tour or yank it in favor of something else.

“Portland will determine what the rest of the world is going to hear on this tour,” he told the crowd.

Predictably, the song didn’t disappoint and was met with thunderous applause.

That applause paled in comparison to the ecstatic response he received when he came out for an encore and performed “Big Shot” from “52nd Street.”

After finishing a rollicking and rough version of that popular song, he and his band again thanked the sell-out crowd and retired backstage only to be brought back out by a deafening appeal from the audience.

Appropriately, he ended the night with his signature song — the legendary “Piano Man” from the album of the same name. Although he was a bit out of breath playing the harmonica opening, the fans were ecstatic, nonetheless, and sang along with Joel.

Joel’s concert proved two things. Despite aging and mellowing, he hasn’t lost a step; and he hasn’t forgotten his past and the songs that propelled him to superstar status.