Billy Ray Cyrus swaggers, struts for crowd in Bangor

Billy Ray Cyrus knows how to connect with his audience.

Before a paid crowd of 2,832 Saturday night, Cyrus proved that, as he sauntered, swaggered, stalked and danced across the Bangor Auditorium stage, making it his own during his hourlong Bangor State Fair set.

Cyrus is at a career crossroads. His decadelong relationship with Mercury Nashville just ended. He’s trying his hand as an actor in the independent film “Radical Jack.” He’s fallen in and out of favor with radio. But his work with children, veterans, farmers, Native Americans and disaster victims has made him as much or more popular than his hit singles have.

The “chick flick,” a film that appeals primarily to women, has long been a staple of Hollywood. Cyrus’ show would have to be termed a “chick gig.” While the Kentucky native surely has just as many male fans as female, it was estrogen that permeated the auditorium air Saturday night.

As soon as Cyrus took to the stage during “It’s All the Same to Me,” the pilgrimage began, with fans, largely female, streaming down the aisles, offering up gifts or trying to touch his hand, his leg, the hem of his blue jeans.

Cyrus is a performer supremely comfortable with his sex appeal. He was amusingly shameless, shaking his butt, thrusting his pelvis, easing off his shirt to reveal the muscled shoulders underneath. The shrieks from the audience showed that his actions were having the desired effects.

But he was also a gracious host. He continually strived to touch as many hands as possible. He accepted gifts, putting on those he especially liked immediately. When someone handed him a stuffed lobster, he said, “Thanks. I ate the one I had earlier.” Not a real knee-slapper, but a definite attempt at topicality.

Cyrus attacked his set with gusto, with such songs as “Where I’m Gonna Live When I Get Home,” “She’s Not Cryin’ Anymore” and “Busy Man.” His covers included “Harper Valley PTA,” “Cover of the Rolling Stone” and “Hey Elvis.”

A highlight was “Some Gave All,” his tribute to all veterans of war. Fans swayed back and forth and held up cigarette lighters and peace signs. A local veteran handed him a veterans’ group baseball cap, which Cyrus placed on his head.

Right near the end, he gave the fans his signature song, the breakthrough hit “Achy Breaky Heart.” It turned into a singalong, and the mostly female chorus took on a definite Chipmunks quality.

Cyrus went straight from that into The Troggs’ “Wild Thing,” the last song of the set. The concert had a bizarro ending, as his six-member band left the stage, and Cyrus stayed at the edge of the stage, to sign autographs as the house lights came up. It was offbeat, but definitely consistent with Cyrus’s crowd-pleasing style.

Opening for Cyrus was Saco singer Jenny Paquette. Clad in an oversized white suit, Paquette quickly won over the audience with her spirited seven-song, half-hour set, which included several cuts from her current CD, “Time Will Tell.” She’s a performer to watch in the future.