And with Idol posing and sneering up a storm on every song, the overall effect was ridiculous, cartoonish, and hilarious.
True, he didn't have quite enough hits to sustain the momentum on his 90 minutes on stage and he left at least one - Hot in the City - unplayed.
After its protracted spoken introduction the ballad Sweet Sixteen went on forever.
So did the his cover of the Doors' L.A. Woman, into which Idol substituted "Auckland" in the lyrics, helping give Jim Morrison's grave-spinning a few extra rpms.
Longtime guitar offsider Steve Stevens, whose big hair, cosmetic and sartorial efforts made him look like an undiscovered Batman villain - The Rooster? - also took up a fair amount of room with with his blazing flamenco-to-metal fretboard fireworks.
But when he wasn't in the solo spotlight, he was part of a well drilled and happy band. One which pulled off everything from accurate facsimiles of those big 80s production numbers - like that good ol' male stripper classic, Flesh for Fantasy to Idol's early pop-punk ditties like Generation X's Ready Steady Go and Dancing with Myself.
Ending with Rebel Yell, the song's singalong chorus hook became an encore call (clever that) bringing Idol back on to wrap up with that great Gothic jazzercise tune, White Wedding and his redo of Tommy James and the Shondells' 1968 hit Mony Mony, which gave the night a big slab of bubblegum to finish on.
Fitting, that.
The evening started rather more serious with Oz rock veteran stalwarts The Angels. They're now a band consisting of surviving original guitarists, brothers Rick and John Brewster, and ring-ins with former Screaming Jet Dave Gleeson in place of late big-personality frontman Doc Neeson.
They cranked through their nervy hard rock anthems like Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again?, Long Line, and No Secrets, initially with underpowered support band sound.
It was workmanlike for the most part, but got there in the end.
And for some, the night's main attraction wasn't Idol but Cheap Trick, the American band which first got big in Japan in the 70s by sounding like a stadium rock Beatles, briefly had some hits in the rest of the world and stayed the course, pretty much ever since.
These days one-time pin-up frontman Robin Zander prefers a black leathered-up look and singing from deep beneath the peak of his police hat which is a curious touch.
But the band's resident showman remains its supergeek guitarist Rick Nielsen who worked his way through as many guitars in a dozen or so songs. He brought out a doubled necked number designed as a caricature of himself at one point, then topped that with a five-necked instrument a few songs later.
They certainly got off to a roaring start and finish with Hello There - bringing back memories of track one from their best-selling Live at Budokan album - and then hammering loudly through the likes of California Man, If You Want My Love, as well as a metalled-up Magical Mystery Tour.
Their out-of-character late 80s hit power ballad The Flame got wheeled out too, though it was a dull moment before the joyfully noisy blasts of I Want You to Want Me, Dream Police and Surrender.
No, it probably didn't make sense to folks only there to see the headliner and it sure wasn't pretty.
But Cheap Trick provided some much needed rock'n'roll roughage before Idol's candy-coated hits.
