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Christopher Cross in Los Angeles

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Christopher Cross
Long Beach Amphitheater — Long Beach, CA
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About Christopher Cross

Christopher Cross emerged in the late 1970s as the unlikely face of yacht rock, a genre that would define him completely. His 1979 debut album was a commercial juggernaut, anchored by the breezy sail-away fantasy of "Sailing," which became inescapable on AM radio and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. That same album also spawned "Ride Like the Wind" and "Arthur's Theme," proving Cross had a genuine gift for melodic pop songwriting that felt effortless and expensive. His follow-up, "Another Page," maintained the soft-focus aesthetic but couldn't sustain the momentum. By the 1980s, yacht rock had become something to apologize for, and Cross's earnest, perfectly produced sound fell out of favor. He's spent decades existing in a strange cultural space—genuinely talented but permanently associated with a sound that became shorthand for excess and poor taste. His songs endure mostly as nostalgia and irony, though "Sailing" remains legitimately lovely.

Cross plays nostalgia crowds who know every word to "Sailing." The energy is polite, occasionally wistful. He's a competent performer without particular charisma, steady and professional. Audiences are older, here for the songs themselves rather than the man.

Known for Sailing, Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do), Ride Like the Wind, All Right, Think It Over

Christopher Cross + Los Angeles

Christopher Cross has maintained a quiet presence in Los Angeles over the years, the kind of artist who shows up for late-night TV and reminds people why his soft-rock sensibility never really went away. His November 2025 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live was characteristically low-key—just him and "Sailing," that one song that somehow contains an entire era. It's fitting that LA, a city built partly on the yacht-rock aesthetic Cross helped define, would be where he resurfaces. The song still carries its original weight, that sense of escape and precision that made Cross's early-80s moment feel like something more than a passing trend.

Christopher Cross in Los Angeles News

Live Music in Los Angeles

Los Angeles has always been soft-rock's spiritual home, from the session musicians who built the Laurel Canyon sound to the producers who later refined it into something sleeker. Christopher Cross belongs to that lineage—the melodic, meticulously arranged side of rock that dominated AM radio and still influences the city's singer-songwriter ecosystem. LA's music scene has cycled through countless trends, but artists like Cross represent the kind of craftsmanship and melodic sensibility that never fully leaves the conversation.

Los Angeles road trip to see Christopher Cross?

Stay in Los Feliz, where you can walk tree-lined streets and catch views from Griffith Observatory. Dinner at Republique in the Arts District—refined French-inspired food in a restored factory space that feels more Paris than LA. Spend an afternoon at the Huntington Library in San Marino, a world-class art collection that justifies the drive. The city's recording studio history is everywhere; walk through Hollywood and you're literally surrounded by the spaces where hits were made. End the night at a jazz bar like The Fonda Theatre or catch live music on Sunset Boulevard.

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