RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - Channeling the Bee Gees in their prime, a tribute band filled the dance floor with revelers when it performed at the Lake Clementia Amphitheater on July 27 in gloriously cool weather.

The third summer concert presented by Entertainment, Theatre & Culture for Rancho Murieta (ETC) drew about 1,100 attendees, just short of a sell-out, according to Board President Jane Rosetta.

She said the concert was amazing.

 “Everyone I spoke to had a blast and said the Bee Gees Gold were the best performers they had seen in several years,” she said. “They sounded just like the Bee Gees.”

In a pre-concert program, an ETC board member presented this year’s scholarship winner, four Murieta Dance Company students performed to hip-hop music and the emcee fired a T-shirt cannon into the crowd and recognized some of the event sponsors.

Concert

The musicians didn’t waste any time getting the party started with the disco hit, “Saturday Night Fever.” The musicians also raised the temperature with “Jive Talking” and “More Than a Woman” halfway through their playlist and closed down the party with “Staying Alive.”

The group performed “Tragedy” as their encore and, as the lights went out, left the stage. Despite the dance floor crowd hammering the stage and shouting “One more song!” they didn’t return.

Looking and sounding like Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb, the singers performed many of the other Bee Gees classics such as “If I Can’t Have You,” “How Deep is Your Love” and “I’ve Got to Get a Message to You.”

Many in the dance floor crowd sang along. 

Following the concert, band leader John Acosta said they had met some lovely people and the crowd had been great. 

Drummer Dan Sia was even more enthusiastic. 

“The crowd was amazing,” he said. “Everyone was so energetic, so it was awesome.” 

Attendee Mark LeBlanc never stopped smiling as he and his wife, Romi, showed off their dance moves next to the stage. They always attend ETC concerts when “the band is playing fun dance music and the crowd is energized,” LeBlanc said. 

Scholarship

Every year, the ETC sets aside $2,000 from the concert proceeds to fund a scholarship for a Rancho Murieta high school senior as part of its mission of keeping the arts alive in the community. To be selected as the winner, seniors must pen an essay about the arts.

This year’s winner was Seline Tijero, who graduated from Pleasant Grove High School, where she was enrolled in the Biomedical Academy and was part of the Associated Student Body (ASB) leadership class. She was the vice president of the Rancho Murieta Key Club in her junior year. 

Before the concert, Tijero said that winning the ETC money felt like winning an arts scholarship because of her deep love for music and dance, and she was thrilled to achieve it through her writing, another form of art.

ETC Board member Stephanie Stanislaus, who chairs the Philanthropy Committee, introduced Tijero and last year’s winner, Allison Myers, to the crowd. Myers presented the check to her successor.

After Stanislaus explained that Tijero would attend Sacramento State University to study nursing, she asked how she would incorporate her love of arts into her major.

“I hope not only to pursue nursing but also minor in dance so that I can incorporate that into my college life post-college,” Tijero told the crowd.

Other Happenings

Four Murieta Dance Company students performed an award-winning piece featuring a hip-hop music combination of “I Wish” by Skee-Lo and  “Hey ya” by Outkast. Nine youngsters belong to the competition hip-hop troupe. However, since five were out of town, the choreography was modified. The dancers were Kennedy Brenner, Jema Nauman, Aislinn Brenner and Launa Kische.

ETC Board Member JT Turner, who emcees the concerts, also used a cannon to fire T-shirts supplied by Go 4 Pizza and Horizon Glass into the crowd. He also recognized some of the sponsors, including Title Sponsor Karen Hoberg of Rancho Murieta Homes and Land.

The next ETC concert on Aug. 17 will feature Kalima – The Spirit of Earth, Wind & Fire. Tickets can be purchased at Ace Hardware in Murieta Plaza.