Three-hundred Gisbornites caught Saturday Night Fever on Wednesday night, dancing in the aisles to Bee Gees favourites in a tribute show at the War Memorial Theatre.
The Best of the Bee Gees - Saturday Night Fever began with a delve into the back catalogue of the superstar group - Russell Davey (as Robin Gibb) bringing the late singer back to life with an on-point performance of I Started A Joke.
He looked like him, too.
Two of the stars of the Australian production revealed to the audience they were Kiwis.
Evan Webster (Barry Gibb) hails from Dannevirke while Greg Wain (Maurice Gibb) is from Auckland.
Webster, who recalled being billeted in Gisborne as a child for a sports exchange, was a carbon copy of Barry Gibb - from his guitar-playing to his stage presence.
He carried off Barry’s breathy falsetto impressively on songs like How Deep is Your Love and Tragedy.
A range of songs the Gibb brothers wrote for other stars were performed.
Guest singer Roslyn Loxton and Webster gave a memorable rendition of the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton classic Islands in the Stream.
The performers made special mention of the support they had received from the Gibb family, including the Gibbs’ boys elder sister Lesley Evans.
Evans lives in New South Wales and her daughter Debora McLane appeared onstage as a guest performer to sing another Bee Gees written song, Celine Dion’s Immortality, with the brothers Gibb on backing vocals.
“It’s an absolute pleasure to share [the] music of my uncles,” McLane said.
McLane also shared footage from 1979 of she and her twin sister with their uncle Andy Gibb (the youngest of the Gibb brothers), who died in 1988 at just 30.
“Andy’s memory will always live on,” she said before the band began playing his No 1 hit Shadow Dancing with “Barry” on lead vocals and visuals of Andy onscreen. The song was written by all of the brothers.
As the show progressed, tribute was also paid to long-serving Bee Gees drummer Colin “Smiley” Petersen, who played on several of their early albums and was the original drummer on the 1967 hit song Massachusetts.
Petersen had been looking forward to playing in New Zealand. He was dropped off by the band at his Redcliffe home after an Australian tour finished late last year, but sadly passed away that night.
After the intermission, the performers surged into the high points of the night - a celebration of Saturday Night Fever, the platinum hit soundtrack from the 1977 Academy Award-nominated dance drama film starring John Travolta.
Songs from the soundtrack include Night Fever, How Deep Is Your Love and Stayin’ Alive, the penultimate song of the tribute show.
The performance was accompanied by video clips of Travolta dancing, resplendent in gold medallion and white suit with the trademark chest hair (not unlike the actual Gibbs in the late 70s).
A highlight was when band guitarist Ralph Muller took centre stage to perform a cool rendition of Disco Inferno, complementing the 70s theme and blending seamlessly into the Saturday Night Fever vibe.
The night ended with an encore of You Should Be Dancing, which the audience definitely were throughout the show.
The Best of the Bee Gees - Saturday Night Fever was an amazing tribute to the superstar band, with Barry, 78, the last brother standing, following the passing of Maurice in 2003 and twin Robin in 2012.
Hopefully, it’s not too long before they get us dancing in Gisborne again.