Pablo Cruise might just be the original yacht rock band.
“Our headquarters was an 82-foot schooner in the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon,” says Cory Lerios, who co-founded Pablo Cruise in 1973. “So, we were definitely yacht rockers back before yacht rock was a term.”
Perhaps inspired by their views of the San Francisco Bay, the group would go on to deliver some of the greatest songs of what is now known as the yacht rock genre, which celebrates the smooth a.m. radio staples delivered by such artists as Toto, Kenny Loggins, Nicolette Larson, Poco, Player and the Little River Band in the ’70s and early ’80s.
Pablo Cruise’s yacht-rock short list would definitely include such late-’70s soft-rock triumphs as “A Place in the Sun,” “Love Will Find a Way” and “Whatcha Gonna Do?” — with the latter two being top 10 pop hits for the band.
Yet, Pablo Cruise — which currently consists of founding members Cory Lerios on keyboards and David Jenkins on vocals and guitar as well as bassist Larry Antonino, drummer Sergio Gonzalez and vocalist Robbie Wyckoff — has so much more to offer than just that handful of yacht rock staples.
It’s actually a sensational live band, which thrives in a variety of musical styles — from CSN-style folk-rock tunes to jammed-out instrumental numbers.
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Fans can experience all of that — and so much more — during three upcoming Pablo Cruise shows in the Bay Area. The band performs July 25 at The Guild Theatre in Menlo Park (8 p.m., $58 and up, guildtheatre.com); July 26 at The Mystic Theatre in Petaluma (8 p.m., $48.46 and up, mystictheatre.com); and July 27 at the Benicia Waterfront Festival (beniciawaterfrontrocks.com).
