Christopher Cross

It’s a bucket list night for a lot of folks as ‪Christopher Cross‬ brings his music to Scotland for the first time. That might even include The Flamingo King himself as he reveals that his late friend, ‪Jack Bruce‬, had told him repeatedly that he had to come.

For nearly 40 years, his songs have been part of the soundtrack of my life. If I ever have doubts, I need to hear ‘All Right’ (‘I think we’re gonna make it’); as soon as my speedos hit the sun-lounger on holiday, I need some Crossy to help me unwind; and I’ve even adapted the Oscar-winning ‘Arthur’s Theme’ as my own anthem (‘McArthur He Does as He Pleases’).

The first song of the evening is ‘All Right’. There’s a lengthy instrumental intro that showcases the quality of the band before the great man himself saunters on, resplendent in a flat cap and a ‪Frank Zappa‬ T shirt. It’s a sparse stage set-up and he has his own little enclosure at the front of the stage flanked by his guitars and monitors. And then he starts to sing….

The finest vessel in the Yacht Rock marina has always been ‪Christopher Cross‬’s self-titled album with its beautifully crafted songs played by the finest musicians of the day. For me, it’s the ‘Pet Sounds’ or ‘White Album’ of the genre. On stage, Christopher displays a charming, dry sense of humour with his audience and he jokingly refers to the album as ‘the Green one with the chicken on the front’. Over the course of the set we are privileged to hear all of the songs from it (yes, including the often over looked ‘Spinning’ and ‘Poor Shirley’). All the classics are there but some are cleverly re-worked to keep them fresh, notably ‘Say You’ll Be Mine’ and ‘I Really Don’t Know Anymore’ which are both excellent. ‘Sailing’ pops up as the third song and it’s gorgeous as you would expect.

The only downside to recording one of the finest debut albums of all time is that it will inevitably overshadow everything that comes after, no matter how good they are. Tonight, Cross has opted to treat his ‘virgin’ Scottish fans to a predominantly ‘greatest hits’ set which happily includes several cuts from the beloved second album, ‘Another Page’. They do play ‘Baby It’s All You’ from his most recent album. It’s a jazzy workout with minimal lyrics including some in French. That’s appropriate, as most of the very talented backing band on this tour live in Paris and they put on a fantastic performance. In fact, the two ladies on backing vocals do such a good job that ‪Michael McDonald‬ can fetch his coat – he’s not needed here. Actually, that’s not true - he’s another cat that we would love to come over and play for his clansmen someday, so maybe Christopher can put in a word for us?

You can’t miss Andy Suzuki in his Red shirt at the front of the stage and he does a great job channelling his inner Lisa Simpson with absolutely classic sax parts on songs like ‘Arthur’ and ‘Words of Wisdom’. He’s brilliant throughout but don’t forget Cross himself on guitar. It’s easy to focus on the song-writing and the voice and forget just how good his guitar playing is, particularly on ‘The Light Is On’ tonight.

I had a look round the crowd during the interval and I’m pretty sure that me and my pal Alan are the only people in attendance at this show that were also at last Friday’s ‪Gloryhammer‬ / Beast in Black mosh-fest up the road. There’s no crowd-surfing tonight – it’s a classy seated venue, but you can tell there’s many attendees of a certain age that are genuinely emotional about finally connecting with these songs live.

There’s a three song acoustic segment after the break and it works well. Everyone is plugged back in by the time we get to the magnificent ‘Minstrel Gigolo’. Cross explains how he wrote this many years before his recording debut. At that time, he was playing covers in Texas bars and was envious of all the groupies that bands like The Eagles were getting. He also lamented his subsequent lack of action even after he was famous. He gets a couple of offers shouted out from the dark tonight but things get lost in translation and his moment is gone again. Nae luck big man, as we say here.

He closes with ‘No Time for Talk’ and then the final song is a rousing cover version of UK heavy metal band Saxon’s ‘Ride Like the Wind’ which possibly gets the best reception of the night. *

The encore is absolutely stunning. Accompanied only by piano, Cross delivers a heart-felt ‘Think of Laura’ in spell-binding style. It is haunting, beautiful and an emotional end as he simply walks off the stage without further words. None needed.

It was a wonderful evening and it’s very clear that these songs mean a great deal to a lot of people. I don’t know if we’ll ever see him in our wee country again but I’m so glad he finally came over.

*Oh, come on - you know I’m kidding, right?
IM

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