Climbing onboard with Yächtley Crew at last weekend’s show at the Arlington was a trip in all sorts of ways. The number of permutations of captain’s hats — from traditional white to Hawaiian prints, golf themes, regatta flags, and glittery versions that wouldn’t have been out of place in a Michael Jackson show — was impressive.
The age range was also a bit broader than I was expecting. When the first ten people I ran into were parents I knew from my son’s elementary school days, I thought, this is going to be like a PTA party. But there were groups of 20-somethings in front of us, a few folks in the upper upper middle age region, and even some parents with their elementary school kids on their shoulders.
The one thing we all had in common that night was we all knew ALL of the songs on the playlist, and almost all of the lyrics!
Other than a holiday concert, when does that ever happen? But for whatever reason, yacht rock — the soft rock subgenre of music embracing the smooth, mellow sounds of the 1970s and early 80s — takes a lot of people to their happy place. And that’s definitely what this night was all about.
We time traveled to a simpler time, with a set list that included Christopher Cross’s “Ride Like the Wind,” Pilot’s “Magic,” Boz Scaggs’s “Lowdown,” — and by the way, how lucky are we that UCSB Arts & Lectures is bringing Boz Scaggs himself to the Arlington on October 21 — Robbie Dupree’s “Steal Away,” Matthew Wilder’s “Break My Stride,” George Benson’s “Turn Your Love Around,” and Kenny Loggins’s “Heart to Heart.” Although I’m told by mutual friends that Kenny doesn’t like the label “Yacht Rock,” his 1982 hit certainly lifted the crowd’s heartstrings and high sopranos as we gamely sang along.
Yachtley Crew’s new original song by Diane Warren, “Pain of Losing You,” was stylistically right in keeping with all of the retro tunes. They also did England Dan & John Ford Coley’s “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight,” Exile’s “Kiss You All Over,” Christopher Cross’s “Sailing,” Hall & Oates’s “Maneater,” Toto’s “Hold the Line,” Steely Dan’s “Reelin’In the Years,” Hall & Oates’s “You Make My Dreams Come True,” Rupert Holmes’s “Escape (the Piña Colada Song),” Looking Glass’s “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl),” Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love,” Electric Light Orchestra’s “Don’t Bring Me Down,” The Doobie Brothers’s “Takin’ It To the Streets,” Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street,” Toto’s “Africa,” Boz Scaggs’s “Lido Shuffle,” Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long (All Night),” and Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing” — we were all standing, singing along, and dancing for the bulk of the night.
As the band’s co-founder and drummer Sailor Hawkins (a k a Rob Jones)told me in our preview interview (read here), “It’s pretty simple. It’s feel good music and we just want people to come out and have a great time.” Aye Aye Captain. Mission accomplished.
You must be logged in to post a comment.