I take back everything bad I've ever said about Disco ...
(well, almost everything) ...
On a last minute whim last night we ventured out to The Arcada Theatre to see The New York Bee Gees Tribute Show (which also included a special tribute to Donna Summer) and we were blown away. What a fun night!
I am not ashamed to say that I have ALWAYS loved the music of The Bee Gees ... every era ... so we knew going in that we would be sitting there listening to music that we might otherwise be enjoying at home anyway.
As expected, it was heavily weighted to their music of the disco era ... Ron Onesti even removed a large block of seats to create a dance floor ... and I'll tell you what ... it was PACKED the whole night ... all the more impressive when you consider that overall it was a fairly sparse crowd ... but everybody there came out to have a good time and relive that golden era when The Bee Gees ruled the world. (And Ron was dressed to the hilt last night with a SUPER sharp-looking suit, a large collared shirt and black and white platform shoes that were to die for. [I figure he had to dig pretty deep into the closet to dig those babies out!!!]) With probably only about a third of theater filled, it sounded like THOUSANDS cheering after every song ... this crowd was into it and having a great time.
Watching the dancers was almost as much fun as watching the band! (I've never seen so much silver-grey hair on a dance floor before!!!) But these folks had it DOWN!!! They were having a GREAT time, reliving the moment (and dusting off some of their old dance moves, many of which had obviously been shared with that same dancing partner over the past 40 years!) Entertaining as hell ... we literally smiled the whole night through.
And the band had it down, too ... essentially just four pieces, they were able to create an incredibly full sound and pulsating beat that never fell short. (Props to Mammy Focarazzo [Fake Maurice] on keyboards for really filling in the sound, Peter Lazos on drums and Mike Flyntz on guitar ... as well as female vocalist Tammi Wolfe who covered some of the "Bee Gees for Others" material like "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" and a couple of the Babra Streisand / Barry Gibb duets.)
The dance floor also allowed Fake Barry Gibb (Peter Mazzeo) the opportunity to come out and mingle with the crowd, which the audience absolutely ate up. While Fake Barry was really the driving force in maintaining the high caliber of The Bee Gees sound, Fake Robin (Tom Flyntz ... who sounded absolutely NOTHING like the real Robin Gibb ... but had an outstanding voice of his own) provided one of the concert highlights when he sang "I Started A Joke", earning one of the loudest ovations of the evening.
As good as The New York Bee Gees were, the girl honoring Donna Summer (Rainere Martin) was phenomenal ... she looked and sounded just like the real thing ... what a GREAT blend of talent up there.
After the show I made it a point to tell Ron Onesti, Fake Barry and Fake Donna that they sure knew how to throw a party!
For a night of just pure fun entertainment, check these guys out. (And the next time Ron has them back out to The Arcada, a couple of suggestions ... expand the dance floor to twice its size because people were DYING to get up there and boogie ... and next time around, let's get them a full house audience, too, because they absolutely deserve it!)
HIGHLY recommended ... check them out if they hit your area.
http://www.newyorkbeegees.com/tour-dates/
A short overview of the show is featured below ... FUN NIGHT!!!
