EASTON, Pa. — It's doubtful discoverers of disco music ever meant it to be more than a moment of delightful release — certainly not revered and studied decades later like Mozart or Dylan.
But there it was, Saturday at Easton's State Theater — a nearly sold-out State Theatre reveling in the disco songs of KC and the Sunshine Band, many of them more than 50 years after they were hits.
He told the crowd, "Look how young you look" — and it was only partially stage patter, as the years at least metaphorically melted away.KC of KC and the Sunshine Band
KC and the Sunshine Band helped the audience experience many of those moments — and memories — in a two-hour show of 15 songs.
But the best parts were not nostalgia — but recapturing those moments.
And they did, starting with a medley by the 10-member band and four female dancers before KC, dressed in a '70s-appropriate back sequined suit, stepped on stage for a faithful recreation of the chart-topping 1976 hit "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty."
The audience of largely Baby Boomers immediately were dancing in their seats, and aisles, as those memories became moments again.
An audible thrill even went through the crowd with the first notes of the 1978 platinum hit "Boogie Shoes," and the crowd cheered as KC — 75 and, of course, looking older — danced with a spin and kick.
"Oh, I'm tired," KC jokingly told the audience after the song, saying that "if you thought you'd come here and see that 20-year-old, you missed that long ago."
But he told them, "Look how young you look" — and it was only partially stage patter, as the years at least metaphorically melted away.
Playing every chart hit
KC slowed down the pace standing at the front of the stage with just three players for a snippet of The Supremes' "I Hear a Symphony' that became a slower version of his 1979 hit cover of Barbara Mason's "Yes I'm Ready."
The full band returned for a slow "Please Don't Go," another No. 1 hit from 1979 that veered from disco.
On it, KC's singing was stronger and seemed sincere, and the song ended with a long coda.
"I'm Your Boogie Man," in comparison, was a faithful note-by-note recreation, but seemed slighter.
It also was telling that the show included literally every charting song from the band.KC and the Sunshine Band at Easton's State Theatre
"Keep It Comin' Love" showed real staying power, and had literally the whole crowd up and dancing.
It seemed that songs performed closest to their original presentation connected best, but several were stretched, with spoken interludes and snippets of songs from the same period.
"Give It up," perhaps KC and the Sunshine Band's best song — it carried the band's career into the new wave era — had some of the best singing of the night.
But it was stretched to nine minutes with interludes of The Commodores' "Brick House' and Michael Jackson's "Shake your Body (Down to the Ground)."
It also was telling that the show included literally every charting song from the band.
KC and the Sunshine Band's time at the top of the charts — despite its gold and platinum sales and cultural impact — lasted just four years and 10 Top 40 hits.
Giving crowd a final 'moment'
That meant the show was stretched by long (four minute) band introductions (two of them), band jams and a six-minute drum solo (with a snippet of Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music") while KC changed costumes (at least three).
There also were lesser-known songs. The KC-penned 1974 George McCrae No. 1 hit "Rock Your Baby" was very good (it included a snipped of Dr. Hook's "When You're in love with a Beautiful Woman," which KC said he was told it influenced).
But "I Like to Do It" was a slighter song, as was "I Get Lifted."
The crowd was reliving memories — and a moment.KC and the Sunshine Band at Easton's State Theatre
A cover The Four Tops' "It's the Same Old Song," which was a Top 40 hit for KC and the Sunshine Band in 1978, was better.
But to KC's credit, he continued to dance (and spin and kick) all night, and when the band started to wind down the show with one of its biggest hits, 1975's "That's the Way (I Like It)," the whole crowd was up again to join him.
KC decided to end the main set with what he called "a brand new song" called "So Glad We Got Together."
And a seven-minute encore started with a cover of Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" and reprise of "Please Don't Go," with KC giving a long, extended goodbye.
But before that end, the group's first hit, the 1975 platinum chart-topper "Get Down Tonight," really connected, with its swirling into.
And the crowd was reliving memories — and a moment.
