Village People Celebrate 35 Years With Riotous Concerts

Village People Celebrate 35 Years With Riotous Concerts

Ideal Christmas office party idea

Thursday 29 November – Wellington Town Hall
Friday 30 November – TSB Stadium, New Plymouth
Saturday 1 December – Auckland Town Hall
Sunday 2 December – Ascension Wine Estate “Party In The Vines”

Celebrating their 35th Anniversary, disco legends the VILLAGE PEOPLE are coming to New Zealand for four fun-filled shows in November and December to kick off the Christmas party season.

Performing their greatest hits including Macho Man, Y.M.C.A, Go West, In The Navy -- songs that are impossible not to dance to -- their New Zealand performances will seem more like dance parties than concerts. To that end, the Village People and promoters are encouraging audiences to get into the party spirit by donning their favourite disco-wear – or better still, come dressed as their favourite Village People character – for an amazing night of singing, dancing, celebration, and fun at one of the four venues.

“Exuberant – a wildly entertaining performance” (NY Daily News).

With worldwide sales of over 100 million albums, the VILLAGE PEOPLE became an instant phenomenon that defined an era of pop music in the late 70s when disco ruled the music charts and the radio waves. Their catchy songs have transcended three generations, with everyone from children to grandma’s knowing the actions to Y.M.C.A, and the words to IN THE NAVY – songs that have never lost their appeal. Their biggest hit, Y.M.C.A, originally written as a filler song for the band’s third album ‘Cruisin’, today features in the list of Top 10 Disco Hits Of All Time -- its special dance moves inciting a Guinness World Record set on December 31, 2008 for the world’s largest YMCA dance performance with over 40,000 fans standing to perform the trademark dance actions at the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas. It has also been scientifically proven to be the second most catchiest tune of all time.

Support for the tour is Wellington’s all girl trio THE BEAT GIRLS, whose world-class show, also featuring songs, dance routines and outrageous costumes from the disco era, will get everyone wanting to dance along with them in no time. This amazing band enjoys a huge fan-base that includes Prince Charles and Muhammad Ali. The evening promises to be a lot fun as soon as the lights go down!

With both reserved seating and GA dance floor options available at all indoor shows, there’s no reason for anyone to miss out enjoying the fun.

“Still as sexy as ever ” (The News, Australia).

The group was formed in 1977 after producer and composer, Jacques Morali, with partner Henri Belolo stumbled across Felipe Rose dancing in his American Native costume to a crowd in New York’s Greenwich Village. Felipe’s special visual attraction gave the duo the idea to put together a group of “Village” icons from various American social groups to target disco’s gay audience, although once launched the band’s popularity quickly brought them into the mainstream. Roles with costumes were carefully selected; among them were a cowboy, biker, soldier, policeman, construction worker complete with hard hat, and Felipe’s American Indian.

Soon afterwards, Morali and Belolo recruited Victor Willis, who they saw performing in a Broadway production of The Wiz, to become the original Cop and lead singer. Felipe was recruited as the Indian. Victor introduced his friend, Alex Briley to play the soldier. After several rounds of auditions and trials to find the final 3 performers, the final line-up included David Hodo as the Construction Worker, Randy Jones as the Cowboy, and Glenn Hughes as the Biker.

Village People quickly found success in England with the single “San Francisco (You Got Me)” in 1977, and then in 1978 they reaped Stateside honours with “Macho Man” followed by No.1 and No.2 worldwide smash hits with “Y.M.C.A” and “In The Navy”. Numerous awards, accolades and celebrity appearances followed. They continued to ride high on the disco wave with more hits through 1979.

“Fabulous! Village People took the crowd by storm!” (the London Evening Standard).

The early 1980’s saw a decline in the popularity of the disco genre so that the group’s subsequent album releases never achieved the heady commercial heights of their earlier songs. However, the Village People remained a successful touring and club act through the 1980’s until taking a complete hiatus from touring in 1986, during which time various members explored solo careers.

When they re-grouped in 1995 as their own bosses and with the help of a new management team plus a growing nostalgia for everything that was fun from the disco era, the Village People built a new success story, gaining a new industry respect and finding new young audiences through live performance worldwide, and television and video appearances. Recipients of a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (6529 Hollywood Blvd between Liberace and Betty Grable!), the one-of-a-kind Village People have established their place as Disco Kings synonymous with dance music.

Over the past decade since they were last in New Zealand, Village People have been constantly in demand with a full schedule of appearances. These six talented men, three original members Felipe Rose (Native American), Alex Briley (Soldier), David Hodo (Construction Worker), plus two members that have been with Village People for 30 years, Ray Simpson (Cop) and Jeff Olson (Cowboy), and their latest recruit Eric Anzalone (Biker) who replaced original member Glenn Hughes in 1995 who sadly passed away, combine energetic choreography with outrageous fun and lots of bumping and grinding, singing and dancing, to provide great entertainment for all, singing nothing but the hits as you remember them! Their shows are not so much about music appreciation as much as taking a nostalgic trip back down memory lane back to 1979. “Man did we know how to have fun!”

Tickets on sale Monday, 10 September

Wellington: Ticketek

New Plymouth & Ascension Wine Estate: Ticketmaster

Auckland: The Edge Box Office – Buytickets.co.nz

www.officialvillagepeople.com

www.showcasegroup.co.nz

www.pacificentertainment.co.nz
ends

© Scoop Media