Barry Gibb Brings a Touch of 'Saturday Night Fever' to Sunday Afternoon at Glastonbury

Barry Gibb brought a touch of Saturday Night Fever to a sunny Sunday afternoon in Somerset. Uniformed security and stage hands broke into an apparently synchronized disco dance routine during Staying Alive to the delight of the crowd and astonishment of the veteran superstar.

The 70-year-old seemed quite overwhelmed at times by the warm response of the audience, staring out with a toothy grin of incredulous delight at banners shaped in his image, men and women in fake beards and comedy teeth, and revellers wearing gaudy recreations of the Bee Gees dodgiest disco fashions. He went so far as to request a gold lame bomber jacket be passed up to him. It was at least two sizes too small, but he gamely donned it for a joyous blast through "Tragedy," with tens of thousands lustily roaring the chorus. Indeed, he seemed so taken with it, he was still wearing it when he left the stage to chants of “Barry! Barry! Barry!”

Sunday afternoons on the main stage at Glastonbury have come to be considered the legend spot, where rather than the entertainment onus being on the performer, the crowd pays tribute to a much loved entertainer. In truth, the last surviving Bee Gee’s set was spotty, featuring a few too many tender ballads and back catalogue obscurities rather than the monster grooves that might have better suited the occasion. For a man of his stature and experience, he seemed peculiarly nervous and out of his element in front of the festival crowd, fumbling with the microphone as if he’d never seen one before.

But Gibb (along with his late brothers) is one of the greatest pop songwriters of all time, with an extraordinary voice that shifts from breathy vibrato to piercing falsetto. The audience responded whenever he upped the tempo but, even at his slowest, no one could argue with these melodies. When the huge crowd spontaneously sang along with his gorgeous ballad "Words," the singer could only fall silent and look on with awe.