Images by: Erin Haight

As Michael Bublé prepared to take the Arco Arena stage Tuesday evening for the Sacramento stop of his 2010 “Crazy Love” tour, projections of overlapping symphony-member images, including a tails-wearing conductor, promised a very formal, if not downright stiffly starched concert event.

But Bublé quickly dispelled that notion – along with several other Michael Myths – during his sometimes-serious, sometimes-silly but always unpretentious and completely entertaining two-hour, 19-song set.

After opening with his John Barry/James Bond-flavored take on Arthur Hamilton’s ’50s blues ballad “Cry Me a River” and a jazzy, reed-and-brass-boosted “All of Me” (the first two cuts off 2009’s “Crazy Love”), the 34-year-old Canadian began tackling the misconceptions head-on.

“That’s my job,” he said in mock earnestness, “to change people’s perceptions.”

After a few obligatory comments about Sacramento temperatures (“It’s hot as shit out there! I’ve never seen so many people so eager to come early to a show because a place is air conditioned,” he said. “It’s like, it doesn’t even matter who’s playing – it’s cool and there’s beer in there.”), Bublé eased gently into Misconception No. 1.

After announcing he and girlfriend, Argentine actress Luisana Loreley Lopilato de la Torre (who is featured in Bublé’s “Just Haven’t Met You Yet” video), were engaged, he acknowledged the smattering of applause with a laugh line playing to his female fan base: “That was sort of lukewarm!” He immediately followed it with the unsaid thought on the minds of so many of those fans’ escorts: “Oh, he’s so gay!”

Pointing out that if it were true, he’d not only proudly proclaim it, but would (pointing to a front-row gentleman) “bonk you, sir.”

Another misheld belief he wanted to straighten out, he said, was that they were not at a concert.

“This is not a concert,” he said, “I’m bored with concerts. This is a party – a party with 14,000 guests.”

After giving the OK for everyone to disregard staid, concert-hall protocol and to stand, sing along and dance if they were so moved, he kicked off “the party” with what he jokingly (but accurately) called “one of the most depressing songs ever” – Billy Vera’s 1981 hit “At This Moment” (the third of the eight songs he’d perform from “Crazy Love”).

From a seated start, Bublé crafted the emotional build of the song, eventually rising to his full height for the big finish – leaving him ready to get the party really started with an all-over-the-stage performance of the Weill-Brecht classic “Mack the Knife.”

From bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet to making runs across the stage that ended in expert slides, he proved himself to be much more than a crooner glued to the mike stand, but a real entertainer who knows how to work a crowd (he even inserted “Sacramento” into the lyrics).

Speaking of stationary crooners … though Bublé has been called Frank Sinatra’s heir apparent – for his reverential but contemporary take on the American popular songbook – Bublé pooh-poohs the comparison. 

Actually, he is reminiscent of a Rat Packer – but it’s not Ol’ Blue Eyes. A better comparison would be Bublé’s late, great paisano (Bublé holds dual Canadian-Italian citizenship) Dean Martin. 

Like Martin, Bublé is not only a talented, good-looking vocalist as comfortable with a lilting samba as with a sensitive, soul-touching ballad, but he can act as well as kid with the best of them – which he demonstrated in frequent conversations with the Arco audience. (A good example of his comic prowess was showcased on-screen in his 2010 “Saturday Night Live” appearance with host Jon Hamm.)

Unafraid to make real contact with his audience (as he did with nods or gestures in endorsement of their on-their-feet clapping or dancing), he paid special attention to those seated high and low and to the side.

After getting the crowd to sing along to “Everything,” he endeared himself even further by expressing his desire to shower with them while throwing a dig at the arena’s acoustics. “If you make the Arco sound that good, we’re going to sound fantastic in the shower!”

Bublé’s sense of humor got a full workout during the introductions of his superb 13-member band.

From affectionate teasing of their supposed personalities to sharing confidential discussions (“Before we came out, Josh said just three words to me: ‘The Kings suck.’”), Bublé kept the laughs coming as he continued to build on his party’s momentum with his group in full big-band mode with “I’ve Got the World on a String.”

Alternating up-tempo, full-blown arrangements with more subtle, intimate tunes like the romantically poignant “The Best of Me” (performed seated at the piano of bandleader/arranger/composer Allan Chang), Bublé was a master pacemaker.

Playing it relatively straight with Crazy Love’s “Georgia On My Mind” (featuring a killer trumpet solo by Juumane Smith), and “For Once in My Life” (from 2003’s self-titled debut), Bublé the storyteller was back center stage sharing how he was influenced by movies (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) and music (Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall,” “Billie Jean”) as a young boy. 

Presented as a bit of spontaneity in his concert patter, the bit is a set piece on the current tour and includes an “impromptu” impression of a moonwalking MJ, as well as a re-creation of the parade-float scene from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” with a twisting Bublé singing “Twist and Shout.”

Sure, it’s rehearsed, but it all comes off fresh and fun (just watch out for the large, bouncing beach balls).

A number (“All I Do is Dream of You”) with the seven-man, a capella group Naturally 7 (which opened the show with an ovation-getting 45-minute set featuring an amazing, voices-as-instruments performance) brought a heavily guarded Bublé down to the back of the floor where he proceeded to sing “Home” (from 2005’s sophomore release “It’s Time”) before heading back to the stage for a wonderful arrangement of “Save the Last Dance for Me.”

A few oldies (“How Sweet It Is,” “Heartache Tonight”) kept the party building as promised to an exciting climax with Bublé’s current hit “Haven’t Met You Yet” (which he wrote with Chang and Amy Foster). Written with his fiancée in mind, it seemed as if there was real joy on Bublé’s face as he sang – frequently leaning out over the stage to do what he could to make the Arco an intimate club experience.

With an overhead explosion of confetti after “Feeling Good” – the first of three encores (followed by “Me and Mrs. Jones” and “Song for You”) – Bublé’s promise that this was going to be a party was fully realized.