Christopher Cross, Shy Acoustic Poet Returns to Manila

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas!"
Singing that line of a well loved Christmas carol, Grammy award winning acoustic poet Christopher Cross officially marked the start of the Yuletide season in Manila's concert scene on the 30th of October at the Newport Performing Arts Theatre.

Back in the Philippines after 10 years, the portly Cross was still portly, with less hair than before covered by a newsboy's cap. 

Like before, he just walked on stage with his band, still an hour late, and simply started playing the guitar, and singing song after song, alternating new and lesser known numbers with his hits.  He introduced the very capable members of his band one at a time, as each one performed counterpoint and accompaniment to him.

Like before, his high pitched voice, devoid of technical enhancements, was a bit raw though familiar, perhaps the better to focus on his soft contemporary lyrics.   However, his guitar playing abilities were unmatched.  The sound of each note strummed and plucked, especially when he went unplugged in the middle of the show, was wonderful to hear.

Like before, showmanship was not his biggest strength, but music, pure and simple, was. And a concert before a couple of thousand of people was transformed into an intimate gig. 

Like before, the audience was appreciative, but not wild, not even when he played his best known songs, Sailing, I Will, now often used in weddings, and of course Arthur's Theme, the companion soundtrack to Dudley Moore's tragicomic Arthur.

 

 

Like before, there were many men in the audience, seemingly alone, sitting and watching without partners, and some with partners, nodding their heads and playing air guitar with their hands, following the beat. 

It was not a spectacular performance or concert...I guess Chris Cross is too laid back for this to happen. It certainly was not frenetic or high energy.  The decibel was most tolerable. He sang with his eyes closed most of the time...either he was feeling the song, or the glare of the lights, or was just shy and awkward in front of an audience, or a little bit of all three.  But it was a feel good show reprising many songs of the 80's...with a some new material to show he was still current.

Methinks, some of our local performers could take a cue from some of these foreign entertainers.  Our performers tend to do too much: they'd move too much, talk too much, over sing, over act, overdress ....  International performers practice "Less is More" and just let their music do most of the talking.  For example the two front acts, a pop band named Pure Sound, followed by stage thespian Karla Guevara, were both very talented, sang but three numbers each, looked over made up, and were not good complements to the type of show and music that followed.  Because they were so talented, it was a bit sad to watch.  They deserved to have been part of a different type of show, instead of ushering in an ultra casual musician like Chris Cross.

Anyway, it was the penultimate day of October, two days before Halloween and All Saints' Day, and with people already in a holiday mood, it was an okay setting for a retro show to reminisce.

Enough said.