TO Jazz Fest Review: KC and The Sunshine Band, June 24, Nathan Phillips Square

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“I’m 65. What the hell happened? I can’t even remember if that’s the way I like it,” joked Harry Wayne “KC” Casey near the beginning of their set. “Some of you young people may not even know me. I was your mother’s N Sync. This is what Justin Timberlake will look like in 30 years.” Apparently in 30 years time, Justin may end up looking like James Gandolfini gone Vegas. But I digress.

So yes, KC is old, but for a man his age, his voice is still there, he’s still got some pretty sweet dance moves and he definitely puts on a show. At times, the show got a little too glitzy and showbizzy for my taste, but it’s pretty hard to deny songs like “(Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty,” “I’m Your Boogie Man,” and “Get Down Tonight.” Those are some crowd pleasers right there and KC certainly aimed to please, leading his band through all the hits and getting the people moving. And if the crowd wasn’t shaking their booties as much as KC may have hoped for, there were a couple of dancers onstage to make up for it, literally shaking some booty throughout the night – yes, there was twerking involved.

Alongside the big hits, they played a few songs from their latest, a collection of ’60s covers, as well as a few that I didn’t even realize were by KC and The Sunshine Band, including “Please Don’t Go,” “Yes, I’m Ready” and George McCrae’s “Rock Your Baby,” which KC explained was the first big hit that he wrote, adding that it inspired ABBA to write “Dancing Queen” and John Lennon to write “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night.” It seemed a bit like KC was tooting his own horn at that point, but whatever. If I wrote a song that inspired ABBA and one of the Beatles, I’d probably be telling everyone too.

Posted on by Paul in Toronto Jazz Festival