While the primary aim of any live music performer is to entertain, something special evolves when those listening are empowered to make a connection with their past.
New music will always have its place, but the soundtrack of our lives ignites memories of days long gone; days when things were much less complicated and the years ahead were exactly that — years ahead.
Many can’t remember yesterday, but a long-forgotten song revived has the power to transport one back to a life moment; a happy moment, a sad moment, whatever, but a moment as fresh as the day it happened.
Through the 1970s into the following decade, it was impossible to escape the music of ABBA and The Bee Gees — two of the most culturally and commercially successful acts in the history of popular music. As the such, the music of both acts is associated with millions upon millions of moments.
On Wednesday (July 23) at Del Crary Park, Abbamania and Night Fever will pay tribute to ABBA and The Bee Gees, performing many of the hit songs from both acts’ respective huge music catalogues.
Admission is, as always, free due to the continued support of a number of sponsors, kawarthaNOW among them.
Abbamania and Night Fever perform under the auspices of Booking House Inc., which provides tribute acts covering a wide range of bands for pretty much any function you can think of. Both tribute bands headlined Peterborough Musicfest back in 2017.
Founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1972, ABBA went on to achieve worldwide album sales estimated as high as 385 million while The Bee Gees, hailing from Australia, sold more than 120 million albums. During both acts’ heyday, unless you were living under a rock, you heard, sang, and danced to at least one of their hit songs.
VIDEO: Abbamania promo video
Abbamania brings the music of Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Fryd (Frida) Lyngstad — the first letter of their first names formed ABBA’s name — to the stage years after ABBA’s last performance together.
Re-creating the quartet’s infectious harmonic sound and associated disco-era glitzy stage show, the critically acclaimed tribute act performs all the hits from their nine albums, including “Dancing Queen,” “Waterloo,” “Mamma Mia,” “Take A Chance On Me,” and “The Winner Takes It All,” to name but a few.
In 1974, Sweden’s Eurovision Song Contest provided the springboard ABBA needed via their performance of “Waterloo.” It was later chosen the best song in the competition’s history at its 50th anniversary bash.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, a testament to ABBA’s enduring popularity came in the form of the highly successful 1999 Broadway musical Mamma Mia! which subsequently toured the globe, and again in 2008 when the film version of the production was the highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom that year. Incredibly, however, ABBA never collected a Grammy Award, although nominated five times.
When Abbamania was first formed, nailing down the demanding harmony-heavy vocal arrangements alone was a six-month process. That hard work has paid off, as the tribute act has performed around the globe, backed on numerous occasions by symphony orchestras.
The Bee Gees, meanwhile, were formed much earlier in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, and enjoyed great success from the mid-1960s and into the early 1970s on the strength of hits such as “Holiday,” “To Love Somebody,” “Massachusetts,” “I Started A Joke,” “Lonely Days,” and “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?”
VIDEO: Night Fever promo video
The trio’s recording of the soundtrack for the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta in his breakout role kick-started an even more commercially successful second life for The Bee Gees, courtesy of huge disco favourites “Stayin’ Alive,” “Night Fever,” and “How Deep Is Your Love.” If that success wasn’t enough, huge-selling singles such as “Nights On Broadway,” “Jive Talkin”,” “You Should Be Dancing,” “Tragedy” and, in the late 1980s, “One” kept The Bee Gees at, or near, the top of the pop music mountain.
The Bee Gees were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Among the numerous accolades that came the brothers’ way were eight Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement honour in 2015. Barry Gibb remains the only surviving member of the original lineup.
Performing the songs of The Bee Gees, Night Fever has also toured the world, appearing at Disneyland and in Russia and everywhere in between. Now, along with Abbamania, it will prove yet again why an excellent tribute act should always have a place at Del Crary Park on a warm summer evening. Let the memories flow.
This Wednesday’s concert will be preceded at 6:30 p.m. by country music artist Nickola Magnolia performing under the Cogeco tent near the George Street entrance to Del Crary Park. She is appearing as part of Musicfest’s new Future Sound Series featuring the talents of local performers this summer.
Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 16 free-admission concerts during its 38th season, each staged on Wednesday and Saturday nights until Saturday, August 16th.
Overseen by executive director Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission remains “to provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”
For more information on this concert or the 2025 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a headline sponsor of Peterborough Musicfest’s 2025 season.
