KC and the Sunshine Band ‘get down’ at Melody Tent

HYANNIS – There is a requirement for going to a concert put on by KC and the Sunshine Band.

Dancing shoes.

And let’s be totally honest. We’re talking boogie shoes with attitude.

For those, you must travel back in time to 1975, when the hit song “Boogie Shoes” was created by Harry Wayne Casey and his Sunshine Band. The tune was a part of the iconic disco movie starring John Travolta, “Saturday Night Fever.”

KC and the Sunshine Band brought its energetic disco show to the Cape Cod Melody Tent on Thursday night. Dancing shoes? Oh, yes, you needed them.

And that’s not all.

A disco ball was hung above the Tent’s rotating stage.

Flashing strobe lights transported the audience back to the 1970s.

And the dancers created a mood that was all high energy all the time.

One thing about Casey’s act: it is almost frighteningly fast-paced. It is on full throttle from the very start, when the band’s four-piece horn section is featured in roaming spotlights, along with percussions and guitars. In pairs of two, four dancers take the stage.

And then there is the man in purple.

By the time Casey ran onto the stage and began to sway his hips, wearing a purple jacket he would soon lose, every person in the audience was on their feet, most of them dancing, swaying their arms and beginning to work up a sweat that would go on for 95 minutes.

“Shake Your Booty” was the perfect start.

“Feeling good, this crowd tonight!” Casey shouted.

The show began with a 20-minute warm-up act by Boston comedian Dan Crohn, followed by an announcement of a 30-minute intermission.

It was the last time the night slowed down.

Even now, at 67 years old and surrounded by some dancers and musicians half his age, Casey is all about the energy. He has been since he formed the “Sunshine sound” in 1973 in Miami, Florida. The music never stops. There is no intermission. No stoppages. No awkward moments where a musician is filling the air with words while he catches his breath.

Even when the band transitioned from the end of a main set, which lasted 80 minutes, and moved toward its encore set, the time was filled by an incredible drum solo by David Simmons.

When the drum solo ended, and “That’s the Way (I Like It)” cranked up, the Melody Tent turned into a dance party. KC and the Sunshine Band finished the night with “Get Down Tonight,” which won the soul single award at the 1976 American Music Awards.

Casey went through several wardrobe changes through the course of the night, as did the singer-dancers. On one of the warmest and most humid nights of the Cape Cod summer, Casey’s shirt was soaked before some of those changes, perhaps reminding him of those hot nights in Miami.

And, still, the man twirled around the stage, singing all the time, with relentless energy.

While the music lovers of the ’70s came out for this night, it was also for the young. It was not unusual to see women of three generations dancing in the same aisle. Casey knows how to connect those generations.

“I was your mother’s NSYNC,” said Casey, who is certainly a bit more rounded than he was back in the 1970s on NBC’s “Midnight Special.” “This is what Justin Timberlake will look like in 30 years.”

And with that, the gyrating hips and the music were on again.

Who: KC and the Sunshine Band

When: performed Thursday night

Where: Cape Cod Melody Tent, Hyannis

In Concert