The Village People, Sister Sledge and KC & The Sunshine Band on the one show was like walking into a 70s disco time capsule.
Lets get one thing clear. No-one goes to a Village People show expecting a Paul McCartney quality production. The Village People is what it is and last night in Melbourne it was what it was.
This Village People was the Victor Willis (the cop) Village People. Willis claims he has the rights to the name after resurrecting his ‘Cop’ persona 37 years after leaving the group. It was not the other Village People, featuring original member Felipe Rose and Willis’ replacement Ray Simpson. And quite frankly it didn’t matter. This isn’t a Beatles vs Stones argument. It is not even Sherbet vs Skyhooks. It’s the friggen Village People. The benchmark is already set way down low.
Unlike the last Village People this Village People did perform with a live band. They played the songs the fans knew and while Willis is the only real member (everyone else was recruited just before this tour) they played the hits despite him battling through the show with a bad cold.
Sister Sledge rose to fame via Nile Rodgers who was developing his band Chic and kept the production house open to record Sister Sledge with the same team. Sister Sledge is now just Debbie and Kim Sledge (Joni died in March 2017, Kathy left to go solo in 1989). Rodgers’ Chic hit ‘Good Times’ was in the Sister Sledge set along with the three big hits ‘Frankie’, ‘He’s The Greatest Dancer’ and ‘We Are Family’.
Joni’s son Thaddeus is touring with his aunts and brings a current R&B flavour to this line-up.
Sister Sledge can actually sing and perform. Following the Village People, cred entered the room.
Harry Wayne Casey’s KC & The Sunshine Band were well and truly the stars of this show. Casey has been touring KC non-stop since the 70s and just keeps getting better.
KC was funny, referring to his larger size these days by saying maybe they should be called KFC & The Sunshine Band. He said how he was the Justin Bieber of his day and warned younger fans, “this is what Justin will look like in 30 years”.
This show reminded me of how surprisingly great Earth, Wind & Fire were last time they toured Australia. KC & The Sunshine Band are also a very good band. What started out as a funk band evolved to become a very successful pop band. The foundation of the funk is the secret sauce (well maybe the 11 secret herbs and spices) for what they are today.
KC & The Sunshine Band had a lot of hits and when you pile them back-to-back you get one massive greatest hits show. From ‘Shake Your Booty’ and ‘Boogie Shoes’ at the start of the show to ‘That’s The Way I Like It’ and ‘Get Down Tonight’ at the end the audience got off on every second.
KC commented that his song ‘Rock Your Baby’, a hit for George McCrae, was the inspiration for John Lennon’s ‘Whatever Gets Your Through The Night’. Fact checking that statement proved KC to be 100% correct.
There is a lot of music history in a KC & The Sunshine Band set. The disco era grew out of his music, ‘Saturday Night Fever’ used his sounds, and Harry Wayne Casey made funk a pop commodity.
KC & The Sunshine Band were one of the 70s greatest pop bands. At age 66, Harry Wayne Casey still puts on one entertaining show.
