The enduring franchise created by 'Joliet' Jake and Elwood Blues more than 30 years ago stopped in at City Hall for two nights this weekend, in the guise of a local octet called The Booze Brothers, formed especially for the occasion by master drummer Howie Rego.

In short: on a night better suited to Chicago, home of the blues, than Bermuda, the band was superb, both as tribute and simply as a dance band, turning the BSoA space upstairs at City Hall into a dance party for the 60-ish set, sort of a support hose hop.

Some history is in order. Like the sentence at the end of the previous paragraph, it may not mean very much to you if you're under 40.

Jake and Elwood were the fictional creation of Saturday Night Live (SNL) comedians John Belushi (the fat one, now dead) and Dan Aykroyd (the deadpan one, now fat). In a sketch on that programme on January 17, 1976, 'Howard Shore and his All-Bee Band' played the Slim Harpo blues number, I'm a King Bee. Belushi sang and Aykroyd played harmonica, dressed in the bee costumes they wore for the 'Killer Bees' sketch.

One thing led to another, and two years later, Belushi and Aykroyd formed a blues band with the help of Paul Shaffer, musical director then of SNL and now of David Letterman's late-night TV show. Dressed in bluesman lounge suits and hats, and sporting John Lee Hooker's trademark Ray-Ban sunglasses, the Blues Brothers fused rhythm and blues (R&B, old-style), rock, blues and some elements of jazz.

The Brothers recorded their first (and best) album, 'Briefcase Full of Blues', live in 1978, when the band opened for Steve Martin at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Briefcase topped the charts, sold more than two million copies, and spawned several chart hits.

Two years later, the band starred in a movie and released a second album. Belushi's death in 1982 might logically have ended the Brothers' career, but didn't. Updated versions have since appeared on SNL, with Belushi's brother Jim or actor John Goodman accompanying Aykroyd. At least two copycat bands have been licenced and still perform regularly.

There followed: a book containing the band's fake back-story; an animated TV sitcom, cancelled after just two episodes; another movie, Blues Brothers 2000; several albums; a Chicago stage musical, The Blues Brothers Revival; a large number of video games; a short-lived bar; a play, A Tribute to the Blues Brothers, staged in London; a novelisation; almost constant TV references in programmes and commercials; a Japanese anime comedy series; a seasonal musical act at Disneyland, the Brass Brothers; sculptures in Chicago, New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro; and references, direct and indirect, in dozens of publications.

And, on the 45th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination, the Booze Brothers at City Hall in Hamilton.

Mr. Rego's troupe almost exactly captured the raw style of the original. The second of two weekend full houses enjoyed every note. In two 75-minute sets, the Booze brothers performed much of the contents of the Briefcase, plus tunes drawn from the repertoire of the Tower of Power horns, the Blues Brothers' movies, and the rockin' blues revival of the 1960s and '70s. If I mention 'Soul Man', 'Knock on Wood', and 'Mustang Sally', you'll either know what I mean, or have stopped reading 500 words ago.

The rock on which this excellent evening's entertainment was founded was Mr. Rego's drumming. The man is world-class. His 'Brothers', on this occasion, were Tamahl Gorham, Max Maybury, Graham Maule, Ronnie Lopes, Stan Gilbert, Tony Bari and a guitarist, Steve Himmelstein. The band was joined by 'Doc' Simons, who has recovered from his medical problems well enough to make him a convincing blues vocalist.

Not to over-intellectualise what was, after all, dance music, the recreation of a sound that was itself a recreation, made the resulting nostalgia a little confusing. Was I missing my teens, my 20s or my 40s?

Mr. Rego has said that the music was the inspiration for his band. On Saturday night, it certainly inspired an audience for whom the Bermuda Festival is just about the only local live entertainment on the calendar. Word is that the Booze Brothers might reform after the Festival and play some more dates. If you were there this time around, you'll want to go again. If you missed it, make sure you don't next time.

Hats off – or more precisely hats on – to Mr. Rego and his Brothers.