PALM COAST, Fla. – If you closed your eyes, even for a moment on Sunday night, you could imagine that Elton John was taking the stage as the notes of Tiny Dancer drew goosebumps.
Yes, they were loud. Most rock concerts are. And you can’t expect anything less from a group called, ‘The Hit Men’.
Belting out hit after hit, audience members couldn’t keep their seats as they stood along the aisles dancing with abandon.
Wintering in Ormond Beach, couples from snowy cities gathered for the evening to rock the night away. Their first trip to the Flagler Auditorium was so much fun, the group of 11 snowbirds decided to pick up tickets for the Bee Gees show coming up in March according to Kathy Murawski from Michigan.
“We heard about it from another couple staying at the same condo complex we are in Ormond Beach. Every song that you hear brings back a memory of a time and a place when we were young,” said Murawski. “That’s what I like about it. Every song takes me back to a summer, a boyfriend, a friend, it just brings back all these memories.
Tommy James and the Shondells, Grand Funk Railroad, and The Monkees, were among her favorites.
“They don’t know me and I don’t know them, and I don’t care what they think. We get up and dance when we want to dance,” she said. “I had The Monkees poster on my wall when I was a kid. Who didn’t like The Monkees back in the 60s?”.
Maintaining the classic favorites of loyal patrons of the arts, the Flagler Auditorium has incorporated next generation shows into the season and it’s drawing a slew of new faces to the performing arts center.
“I just happened to be browsing the venues here and I saw this. It’s right up our alley. It’s the era of music we grew up with the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, it’s perfect,” said Mario DiCristofaro. “And the venue’s great.”
Filomena DiCristofaro is even considering becoming an usher, something she enjoyed doing when living in New York, praising the show.
“Fantastic musicians, the vocals, just the whole thing, very entertaining,” she said.
“We’re from upstate New York and we moved here. We used to catch a lot of these kinds of bands up there and when I saw this and type of music they’re playing, we grabbed tickets right away,” he said.
Wednesday night’s Hotel California Eagles’ tribute show was near sold on Sunday evening, and the rest of the season’s lineup promises to be as entertaining according to Flagler Auditorium director Amelia Fulmer.
“The Hit Men have been here before but they’ve changed some of their players and their music to do some of the music from the 60’s and 70’s,” said Fulmer. “We are loving it. These great musicians have all recorded with people like Paul McCartney, Journey, and Cheap Trick. They’re really tight and really good.”
“I’ve always believed the auditorium is for everyone so we try to program a little of everything. We can have shows like ‘One Night in Memphis’ or ‘Winter Dance Party’ from the 50’s but then we can turn around and still bring other people in who want to hear songs from the 70’s.”
Also coming up this season are the New York Bee Gees with guest Donna Summer.
“We haven’t had them before and we love them all,” said Fulmer. “We’re looking forward to Lisa McLowery as Cher and we have Hotel California coming Wednesday but we only have a handful of tickets left for that.”
“People are really surprised at the quality of the groups that we’re bringing in because they don’t realize that even though we’re Palm Coast, we bring national tours to our community.”
Find out more at www.FlaglerAuditorium.org.
