"Robin Gibb arrives on a high note"
(By Jules Quartly,
taipeitimes.com, August 26, 2005)
When you have sold more records over the past 40 years than anyone else -- except Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and The Beatles -- and your concert is selling out without having to do any promotion, it must be tempting to kick back and enjoy yourself.Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees was not scheduled to do any interviews for his "Magnetic Tour" concert at National Taiwan University Sports Center tomorrow and who can blame him?
The Englishman who emigrated to Australia and then made his money and reputation in America is, according to promoters, planning to take it easy in Taipei. He will look around a bit, do some shopping, entertain fans at his first show in the country, and relax at the Sheraton Taipei Hotel, before the next leg of his world tour.
The Magnet double CD which was released two years ago in Germany and is being re-released worldwide to coincide with the tour gives a clue to the playlist on Saturday, with a first half of predominantly solo material and then digging deep into the classic Bee Gees catalogue. It should be a classic show taking into account the performer's pedigree and the fact he has his own band and a local orchestra backing him.
As a taxi driver the other night in Taipei proved, the Bee Gees are big in Taiwan. His car was set up with flat screens in the front and rear and he played the Bee Gees -- Live by Request DVD on a spine-tingling sound system. He said the Bee Gees made people happy and then sang along to Staying Alive in falsetto.
He had lived in the US and said the Bee Gees concert he saw there was the best he had ever seen. Asked whether he would go to the Robin Gibb gig he said he would be working. It wouldn't be the same without the other two brothers, he added, then turned up the volume so Massachusetts filled the car.
Just as the Bee Gees were blessed with ability and recognition, they also suffered from adversity. They were the whipping boys when there was a backlash against disco and had well-publicized problems with alcohol and drugs. The Gibb brother who was not a Bee Gee, Andy, died at 30 in the late 1980s; and Robin's twin brother Maurice died two years ago.
This tour is 55-year-old Robin's tribute to his late brother, though he has been contradictory about the Bee Gees' future, first saying on UK TV, "The name `Bee Gees' will be reserved in history as the three of us," but later telling Today, "So we [Barry and I] continue on ... for the moment in our separate ways, but who knows? In the future we may work together again as the Bee Gees."
Whatever, Robin has done enough to be considered a pop legend, with solo best-sellers such as Juliet, and the incredible body of work with the Bee Gees spanning over four decades. He's a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Bee Gees won seven Grammy Awards and Saturday Night Fever was the best-selling soundtrack ever. They have sold over 180 million albums to date.
But most of all, the Bee Gees will be remembered for the songs and melodies that Robin will reprise for the lovers of nostalgia and artistry tomorrow night.
Performance note:
What: Robin Gibb's Magnetic Tour
Where: National Taiwan University Sports Center, 1F at intersection of Xinhai Rd and Xinsheng S Rd.
When: Saturday, Aug. 27, 7:30pm
Tickets: NT$2800, NT$3,800, NT$5,800, NT$6,800, from ERA Ticket on-line at www.ticket.com.tw.
Telephone: Yu Kuang Music Magazine (02) 2741 5988
Note: At press time, 80 percent of tickets were sold.
