That first Christopher Cross album was so huge that it became all about the songs, not the musician. Until you see Christopher Cross live you forget what a great guitarist he is.
Watch the Noise11 interview with Christopher Cross
That lead guitar as ‘Ride Like The Wind’ concludes almost scored Cross m a spot on a Steely Dan album. Fun fact: He once subbed for Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple. But then, when your first album cleans up at the 1981 Grammy Awards and the term ‘Yacht Rock’ is literally invented to describe you, your perception is diverted from how a good musician you are to “play Sailing”.
We are now 46 years down the road of the ‘Christopher Cross’ release. Today those songs are classics and what a pleasure to hear them from the man who created them. Cross came from that rare time with singers wrote and sang their own songs. There was no committee meeting used to create ‘Sailing’, ‘Ride Like The Wind’ and ‘Never Be The Same’. They are all organic Christopher Cross.
Christopher Cross is opening for Toto on this Australian visit for the two shows in Melbourne and Sydney. We were treated to a condensed 50-minute Christopher Cross set. Eight of the 10 songs (Arthur’s Theme included) were from those first two albums.
The good thing was Christopher did allow the fans into his 21st century world for two songs. I hope the performances of ‘Dreamers’ from 2011’s ‘Doctor Faith’ and ‘Light The World’ from 2014’s ‘Secret Ladder’ inspire the fans of the early albums to go and check out an artist who is still very active in the 21st century.
Christopher’s band is from around the world and recognised international in jazz circles. He shares two of his band with French legend Charles Aznavour. On bass there is Kevin Reveyrand and on drums Francis Arnaud. Award winning pianist Jerry Léonide is from Mauritius and the backing singers filling out the vocals were Jewlee Peters, Lisbet Guldbaek and Julia Sarr.
There is the Sydney show still to go on 19 April at the ICC Sydney Theatre with Toto. A Christopher Cross show is a musician masterclass.
Melbourne setlist, John Cain Arena, 16 April, 2025
All Right (from Another Page, 1983)
Never Be the Same (from Christopher Cross, 1979)
I Really Don’t Know Anymore (from Christopher Cross, 1979)
Dreamers (from Doctor Faith, 2011)
Sailing (from Christopher Cross, 1979)
Think of Laura (from Another Page, 1983)
Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do) (from Another Page, 1983)
Light the World (from Secret Ladder, 2014)
No Time for Talk (from Another Page, 1983)
Ride Like the Wind (from Christopher Cross, 1979)
https://teglive.com.au/live_tour/toto/
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