Bee Gees Way Stage 2 was opened by Barry Gibb in Redcliffe
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The Bee Gees Way Stage 2 in Redcliffe was unveiled today by Barry Gibb
As fans from the world over were watching the livestream on visitmoretonbay.com.au, Barry gave a moving speech to the crowd gathered in front of the Redcliffe jetty.
"There will always be a big chunk of me in Redcliffe," Barry said. And quite unexpectedly, he then sang "Words." When he got to "talk…," someone in the audience started clapping. Barry laughed and said, "I’m not done yet."
After that, he walked through the degignated walkway, taking time with fans who lined on both sides; talking to them, shaking hands, and posing for photographs. So much so his short walk took almost twice as long as the original plan of half an hour. Finally, Barry was escorted to the new and final stage of Bee Gees Way, part of which he said would be a surprise even to himself, although he had taken an active role in the overall planning.
The surprises included another statue of the three brothers as they looked when they last played in Australia together. Barry admired their great likeness, and quipped: "So we did grow up in the end," referring to the first statue of the brothers as very young boys. Yet another surprise was a video entitled "Living In Paradise" which started as Barry pressed the red button, showing Redcliffe in the good old days and Barry speaking about his boyhood there, and the Bee Gees performing.
It seems the new stage included portraits of the brothers: Maurice was "the extrovert" and Andy, I think it was, "the adventurer." Robin, I think, was "the dichotomy." Maybe someone who was there could tell us what was said about Barry.
Referring to his brothers, Barry said: "Maybe they are watching this." I really hope they were. Linda and Barbara Gibb, and the eldest Gibb sibling Leslie were also there, along with Barry’s "nearest and dearest" friends Kelly Lang and TG Sheppard.
You can watch the live stream again at the above link.
