Gracefully blending Christmas carols with gorgeous ballads, while dropping in covers and even a request or two, Billy Joel converted the giant Hilton Coliseum into a placid piano bar Sunday night.

Singing and playing his way through more than two hours of hits, the 50-year-old piano man seemed to get younger with each song, gleefully playing with the audience like a rock ‘n’ roll mascot by night’s end.

Joel opened with the timeless “Only The Good Die Young,” hitting the keys with one hand while urging the crowd off its feet with the other.

Perhaps still angry about shelling out $49.50 a ticket, the crowd stayed limber. But not much longer.

Like a piano bar veteran, Joel quickly flipped on the charm, poking fun at fellow pianist Elton “The Knight” John and doing a surprisingly dead-on Austin Powers impersonation.

Joel next showed his piano prowess by bulldozing through the impressive interlude to “Angry Young Man.”

“That’s not as easy as it was in 1968,” Joel said afterward, in a thick Scottish accent.

“Year 2000,” a rarity on Joel’s current nine-stop tour, followed, showcasing a voice that has obviously aged well, as he held onto the ending note for several remarkable seconds.

Handpicked from a holly red book of carols resting on top of Joel’s piano, “The First Noel” and a medley of Christmas classics such as “Jingle Bells” served as odd bookends to “Pressure,” though Joel managed to keep the transitions smooth.

A requested “And So It Goes” followed, showcasing a solo Joel for the first and last time of the night. Sounding more at home without the female back-ups, he carried the energy into the aptly titled “I Go To Extremes.”

Joel’s band had a chance to shine in a funky version of “River of Dreams,” though the frontman stole back the stage with “Uptown Girl,” which he dedicated to one of his singers, “instead of X-ty.”

“The song’s better when you are thinking about someone,” he half-way joked.

Ditching his piano for a six-string, Joel spent the next 15 minutes providing the perfect intro for “We Didn’t Start The Fire.”

Jamming through bits of rock classics by Zeppelin, The Police, Elvis, Hendrix, The Beatles and The Stones, he gave the crowd a history of rock ‘n’ roll before presenting his history-book-like ’90s hit.

Following with “It’s Still Rock ‘N’ Roll To Me,” Joel looked nothing like a man who is about to give up the genre to become a classical composer.

Closing with an encore version of “Piano Man,” preluded by a beautiful “White Christmas,” Joel connected in a moment of intimacy like only a true piano man can.