The Verve might be luring the young rock fans to Slane this weekend, but seasoned pop lovers will be heading to the RDS Show grounds tomorrow night to hear the bitter-sweet ballads and funky disco tunes of the Bee Gees.
The brothers Gibb, Robin, Barry and Maurice, arrived in Dublin yesterday evening with a message of love for Ireland and the promise that tomorrow's show will generate some real Saturday night fever.
The Bee Gees have been topping the charts for the past 30 years, often falling out of favour, but always coming back in triumph. Following a string of hits in the 1960s, their fortunes took such a downturn they ended up playing cabaret. They made a spectacular comeback as a disco act, and hits like Jive Talkin', Stayin' Alive and Night Fever became the sound tracks to a whole funky fashion movement.
This year sees another revival in the fortunes of the Gibb brothers. The Anglo-Australian siblings have just joined forces with Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion on the top 10 hit Immortality, and the songs they wrote and performed for the movie Saturday Night Fever are spinning in clubs around the world, as a whole new generation discovers the delights of disco.
A rap version of Stayin' Alive was a big hit for Wyclef Jean and another top 10 hit, Ghetto Super-star, was a remake of another Bee Gees composition, Islands in The Stream. The Gibb brothers also gained notoriety recently when they walked out in the middle of a television interview with Clive Anderson.
When they arrived in Dublin Airport last night, however, they were only too happy to speak to the Irish media; they sang the praises of Irish artists like U2 and Clannad, and they let everyone know just how deep is their love for Ireland. Tomorrow night's show is the first date on a short tour of five continents, with one-off concerts scheduled in London, South America, Australia and Africa. The brothers have brought their wives and families to Dublin, and the entourage of almost 30 people is ensconced in the Merrion Hotel.
The concert is selling well, say the promoters, and they expect all 35,000 tickets to sell out. The large-scale show will feature many of the trio's biggest hits from the past four decades, and there will be a special guest appearance by Ronan Keating of Boyzone, who, along with support act Brian Kennedy, will join the Bee Gees on stage to sing their classic hit, Words.
