THERE’S nothing easy about this Monday morning, and Lionel Richie is at least partly to blame.

The 80s superstar and former Commodore’s commanding performance capped off the final night of the 10-day British Summer Time at Hyde Park series, which included two shows by the Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Ray Davies, JLS, The Saturdays, Kaiser Chiefs - and was scheduled to have Elton John before illness struck.

Make no mistake, it was filthy hot at Hyde Park yesterday. Even departing the train post-gig, there was not even a nip in the air.

Thankfully, British Summer Time laid on plenty of free water and the bars were well stocked.

Whereas last Sunday’s bill was a bit of a mixed bag – ranging from Horrible Histories to the Beach Boys – and produced a strange mix of an audience, yesterday’s Heart Radio event brought out a more consistent crowd. And a huge one.

By the end, all that was visible were people and it was tricky to shuffle in between them.

Opening the day’s entertainment on the main stage, Stooshe gave a pleasingly raw but tuneful run through of the fledgling hits and, for me were the pick of the day.

Eliza Doolittle, who was so exciting a couple of years ago when I last saw her, began slowly and failed to win-over a largely ambivalent crowd but what she lacked in stage presence, she made up for with flawless vocal.

No-one could say Nile Rodgers and Chic failed to get the crowd on their feet with a set full of funky guitar, wailing 70s disco divas and big sing-a-longs.

The sea of people became a tempestuous tidal swell as they rattled through a vast back-catalogue of Nile’s hits from We Are Family, Bowie’ Let’s Dance to Le Freak.

Simon Le Bon appeared on stage to sing along to the Rodgers produced Duran Duran hit Notorious, while the stage was filled with fans for a rousing and extended finale of Good Times.

On stage, Le Bon paid homage to Chic as the best dance band in the world and I can’t imagine anyone present arguing.

It was always going to be tough to top, but Jennifer Lopez gave it a shot. And it worked, largely because her set was so different to what preceded it.

She came out in a skimpy sequinned number, a gaggle of chiselled dancers and one of those aerobic instructor headsets.

From the off it was, to say the least, active. The dance routines were intense, so much so that her contribution to the sound was largely shouting at the obliging crowd to put their hands up, clap, stand on the head etc.

It felt uneasily like the world’s largest and most expensive stripper-cise show.

Added to her over-the-top costume and writhing dance moves you can imagine an embarrassing drunk aunty trying, the stripper poles on wheels did not help.

But  then her voice shone through and the hits started coming - the sort which lurk in the back of the memory from a thousand radio plays when you were a teenager – Love Don’t Cost a

Thing, I’m Real, Get Right, Ain’t it Funny, Waiting for Tonight, If You had My Love and, of course, Jenny from the Block.

J-Lo’s work rate cannot be faulted either. Her set lengthy, included several costume changes – with some better choices – she kept belting the tunes out and the dance routines were labour-intensive.

Perhaps I didn’t come out a J-Lo fan, but I certainly gained a hell of a lot of respect for the effort she puts in.

If the crowd was packed for Jennifer Lopez, it was on another level for Lionel Richie. Every step I took trying to negotiate a path resulted on some poor soul being trodden on.

The expectation of for Lionel Richie was justified. The old smoothie, with an energised band, brought out all the hits.

He promised at the beginning to “play all the songs” from the Commodores to the 80s and the 90s. And he did, and it was beautiful.

The old pro, Lionel knew perfectly how to pace his set – starting with a bang, easing into big sing-songs like Sunday Morning and Three Times a Lady and picking the energy up again when necessary.

A great end to a great 10 days.