New York Bee Gees bring 'Saturday Night Fever' to The Palace

Jan. 5—The Bee Gees rode the disco wave of the late 1970s, with hits like "Stayin' Alive," "You Should Be Dancing" and "Night Fever."

But there's more to the catalog of the three Australian Gibb brothers than those catchy, danceable tunes.

The New York Bee Gees tribute band will plumb the depths of the band's oeuvre, during a show at 8 p.m. Saturday at The Palace Theatre in Greensburg.

The Bee Gees first charted in 1967, with "New York Mining Disaster 1941." The trio racked up 29 Top Forty hits, including nine Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles.

"I love their harmonies. The structure of the songs is brilliant; the production is absolutely brilliant," said Peter Mazzeo, who portrays Barry Gibb, who lent his falsetto to the Bee Gees' disco-era hits and is the sole surviving brother. "Their music was something I was attracted to growing up, but never in a million years thought that I would end up performing it."

Mazzeo said his personal favorite Bee Gees song is "How Deep Is Your Love," a 1977 pop ballad featured with other Bee Gees material in the "Saturday Night Fever" movie soundtrack.

Mazzeo is joined in the band by a group of Long Island, N.Y.-based musicians whom he has known and performed with for more than 20 years. They formerly played together in the Hit Squad, covering dance, rock and top-40 songs from the 1970s through the 2000s.

"I decided I wanted to do something different, and I started looking at tribute acts," Mazzeo said. "There were a lot of Beatles and those kinds of acts, but I wanted to do something out of the ordinary. I saw a void in the Bee Gees market, specifically up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

"I thought there could be a market there, and I could always sing really high," he added.

The New York Bee Gees debuted in 2014 at the former B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City, where they soon became regulars.

The group garnered attention from agents and promoters and soon was playing gigs all over the country. They're doing a series of dates in the United Kingdom beginning at the end of April, their first international tour.

"We were supposed to go the week before pandemic hit," Mazzeo said. "If it goes well, we'll go back in October for another two weeks."

Mazzeo, 63, started playing the clarinet at age 6.

"By the time I hit my teens, I told my father, 'Dad, I hate to upset you, but the clarinet ain't cool.' So I went to the guitar," he said.

He met his current band mates while playing in a variety of local bands. Various members have played with The Alan Parsons Project, Happy Together Tour, Meatloaf, Queen, Blue Oyster Cult, Riot, Herman's Hermits and Enrique Iglesias.

In addition to Mazzeo, the New York Bee Gees include Tom Flyntz as Robin Gibb and Manny Focarazzo as Maurice Gibb. They style themselves to resemble the Gibb brothers at the height of their fame.

The trio is backed by Peter Lazos on drums, Mike Flyntz on lead guitarist and background vocals and Tammi Flyntz singing female lead and background vocals.

Mazzeo said interest in his tribute band was boosted by the 2020 documentary, "The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," which chronicles the original group's rise and musical evolution.

Audiences are treated to faithful renditions of the songs.

"That's the wonderful part of it — the body of work is so great, we don't go off on our own tangents," Mazzeo said. "People come to the shows all charged up. They know what to expect, and they're ready to dance and sing."

Tickets for the New York Bee Gees are $38-$68, available at 724-836-8000 or thepalacetheatre.org.

Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .