Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday night fever in Tasmania

The most successful soundtrack of all time turns 40 this year. That album is of course Saturday Night Fever and although it may have achieved its maturity it remains forever youthful, encapsulating and giving voice to the 70’s.

The skilful biographers of that Saturday Night Fever were the brothers Gibb whose music continues to enthrall. If you need any proof of that you might look no further than the greatest Bee Gees tribute band ‘The Australian Bee Gees’ who have been touring Australia for over 20 years with 6,000 shows under their belts and exported their talent to over 50 countries including to the USA. They have performed in Las Vegas for the last six years and are contracted for at least two more.

This year the guys were going to take a break from their Tassie leg of the tour, after all it’s been over 20 years of constant touring but the enthusiasm for the band is so great Tassie is once again prominent on the tour schedule.

As is characteristic of the continual evolving of their show, the guys will produce a new concept and this year it will be a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Saturday Night Fever album. The show will be divided into two sections covering all of the Bee Gees hits.

I recently spoke to band member of the Australian Bee Gees, Michael Clift and he explained how the show appeals to audiences, in part because of the nostalgia of audiences remembering a moment of significance in life and equating it with the song that was playing in the background providing their own personal soundtrack to their life.

We have spoken on a number of occasions but this year I have a different question for Michael unrelated to the show, one which has perplexed me and some audience members for a while now. The question being, why do the Bee Gees featured in the posters for the show not always align with the ones we see perform the show? Michael explains that there are duplicate performers, there are four Barry’s, including himself and because the guys are based in Las Vegas for six months of the year when the time comes to tour Australia it might be a Barry or Robin who is homesick or wants to catch up with family in Australia that gets to be the touring Bee Gee that particular year.

You can see the Australian Bee Gees on the following dates and venues

Wednesday April 26: Devonport Entertainment Centre, Devonport
Thursday April 27: Burnie Arts Centre, Burnie
Saturday April 29: Wrest Point Showroom, Hobart
Paula Xiberras