It is absolute Thursday Night Fever. With four leading pop/rock vocalists, three slick backup singers, a lighting rig with glitter ball and lasers galore, plus the SSO letting its hair down (with kit, electric bass and guitar, and raunchy tenor sax added), the Hordern Pavilion is coaxed back to its glory days of disco dance parties.

Three sets of bleacher seats surround the huge dance floor, and the joint is full. The divas thrill us and the band pumps. The crowd bops as best they can in the crush, while more staid patrons sit in the bleachers, tapping their toes and sipping pricey glasses of drinkable rosé. 

Paulini – Disco Never Dies. Photo © Cassadra Hannagan

The repertoire consists of gold standard disco hits: Alicia Bridges’ I Love the Nightlife, Earth, Wind & Fire’s Boogie Wonderland, The Weather Girls’ It’s Raining Men and Abba’s Dancing Queen. Seventies disco music is literally more exciting than much of today’s dance music, because it’s faster. The bpm (beats per minute) is almost double that of today’s dance tracks. Back then, you didn’t chill out, you worked up a sweat. We didn’t have gyms.

During Dancing...