Smiley returns with The Best of the Bee Gees tribute show

The Best of the Bee Gees Show is returning to the Redcliffe Entertainment centre, bringing original Bee Gees drummer Colin “Smiley” Petersen back to the streets where his career as a drummer began.

The show has wowed audiences around the world for the past two decades – even drawing high praise from the Gibb brothers’ sister, Lesley Evans.

“I’ve never seen a more professional tribute to the Bee Gees with those beautiful harmonies which are so difficult to achieve,” Lesley says.

“They have worked hard to reproduce the unique sound of my brothers…so tastefully done.

“Absolutely brilliant and I didn’t want to leave.

“If you’re a Bee Gees fan, this is the concert for you.”

Like the Gibb children, Petersen was a pupil at Humpybong State School – although they attended at different times.

He got his start in the industry as a pupil at the school, where he joined the marching band.

“It’s one thing to learn the pattern, it’s another to learn while you’re marching around in time with a deep snare drum strapped around your shoulder,” he told Morton Daily News last year.

Joining the band

Bumping into Maurice Gibb and his sister Lesley at a Sydney nightclub – where he discovered his childhood role in the iconic Australian 1956 movie Smiley influenced the Gibbs’ move to Australia from England - eventually led to Petersen joining the Bee Gees as their first drummer some years later.

Young Smiley and his cheeky mate Joey spend their time between adventures running barefoot through the fields and catching crayfish while dreaming up ways to make money – which Petersen says would likely have held huge appeal to the Gibbs living in post-war Manchester.

“They were planning to emigrate and it was a toss-up between Canada and Australia,” Petersen says.

“(Smiley) maybe was a factor – the family went to a cinema in Manchester and they were chatting in the car on the way home and they decided Australia was the place to go.”

Petersen says the tribute show takes the audience through the highlights of the Bee Gees, interspersed with anecdotes from his own time with the band.

“It’s wonderful that these incredible songs live on through this great show and I am thrilled to add another dimension by sharing my memories.”

The Best of the Bee Gees Show is at the Redcliffe Entertainment Centre on Friday, September 2 and Saturday, September 3 from 8pm.

Tickets are from $69. You can book your seat here.