When Dwayne Gretzky performed Céline Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” at a show in Kitchener, Ont., a mother and daughter near the front of the audience held each other and began to cry.

After the show, a band member approached them to ask about the moment. The mother explained she had just battled cancer, and the song had helped her family through a difficult time.

“Moments like that remind us that music is a powerful force and that you never know what someone is going through,” the  Dwayne Gretzky band said.

For a group known for getting audiences singing and dancing to familiar favourites, it was a reminder of how much a song can carry. A hit that gets one person on their feet might bring someone else back to a moment that changed their life.

That connection is part of what Dwayne Gretzky will bring to the The Auditorium in Thunder Bay on Oct. 24th.

The band celebrates classic rock and pop from the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s, recreating familiar songs with close attention to the originals. Over the past 15 years, it has learned and performed about 850 songs.

But having that much music to draw from is only part of the job. Knowing when to play a song, and how to build the evening around it, can make all the difference.

Even Summer of ’69 isn’t a guaranteed singalong.

The Bryan Adams hit might seem like an obvious crowd-pleaser, but the band has found it needs to arrive at the right moment. Put it in the wrong place, and it can miss. Earn that moment, and it can become the night’s biggest singalong.

“Our job is similar to that of a DJ in many ways — it’s all about the flow of the set and how you sequence the songs.”

The musicians may not have written the material, but choosing how one song leads into another lets them create something of their own. Changes in pace, mood, and intensity help shape an evening that responds to the people in front of them.

“There’s a chemistry to every live show that’s slightly different from another. It’s part of the fun for us: trying to read an audience and choose songs that can unite the energy in the room and make way for the magic to happen.”

That work begins well before anyone takes a seat.

Despite the size of the repertoire, the band typically spends relatively little time rehearsing each new song together. Members arrive having learned their individual parts in detail, a skill sharpened by years of working through hundreds of songs.

A few group run-throughs may be enough before a song faces its real test: an audience. From there, the musicians continue refining their performances and developing a better feel for the material.

Some songs demand more attention. A recent addition, Van Halen’s Right Now, presented rhythmic challenges that required everyone to agree on how to count it.

“We had to get on the same page about how to count it, and that took a bit of extra squinting and temple squeezing.”

This kind of preparation helps a performance feel effortless, even when the music is anything but.

While nostalgia is part of the appeal, these songs don’t require a personal memory of their original release.

Most members discovered much of the music through their parents’ records and CDs. They were already a generation removed. Now, younger listeners are finding songs through playlists, algorithms and an almost limitless catalogue of recordings.

The band has noticed that some of the ’80s and ’90s favourites it gravitates toward seem especially popular with young audiences. One 13-year-old fan attends many of its shows and knows the words to every song.

“It goes to show that a good song will resonate with people no matter when it came out.”

The group’s Dwayne’s World performance videos offer another way to discover the music. The band is proud that those recordings capture the spontaneity and energy of its performances, but a screen can’t provide everything.

“I think the magic of a live show comes from the people in the audience. That’s the beauty of live theatre — it’s a living, breathing thing; a conversation between ourselves and the audience.”

A seated auditorium offers its own possibilities for that conversation.

Several members have theatre backgrounds and feel at home in those venues. The grandeur of the setting suits the band’s theatrical sensibility and creates room for different kinds of moments throughout the show.

It also presents a familiar challenge: some audience members want to remain seated, while others are eager to dance. The band enjoys finding ways to appeal to both.

“There will be moments for the audience to sit back, relax and enjoy a concert, and there will be moments when the urge to get up and let loose takes over.”

The Thunder Bay visit also brings back memories of earlier stops in the city by Sweet Thing, a band that included members of Dwayne Gretzky.

In its response, the band recalled the excitement of approaching Thunder Bay on the drive from Wawa about 15 years ago, struck by the landscape and the city’s distance from other major city centres.

“Lake Superior! Thunder Bay! The names alone are so powerful!”

This time, the musicians are arriving with a different band and a repertoire built over years of playing together. They hope the feeling they create lasts beyond the final song.

“We hope people feel rejuvenated, energized, and full of love.”

That enjoyment goes both ways.

“We feel very lucky to do what we do — it’s so fulfilling to joyously bring these great songs to life with each other and share that experience with people all over the place.”

The band hopes this visit will lead to another.

“We hope to be back in Thunder Bay soon!”

For now, there is a room to play and an audience to meet. As that mother and daughter in Kitchener showed, the musicians can know every note of a song without knowing all the stories it holds.

Dwayne Gretzky performs Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the The Auditorium. Tickets and details are available at tbca.com/dwayne-gretzky.