Roger McGuinn to perform Saturday at PCPA – The San Diego Union
Enjoy a night of stories and songs with Roger McGuinn on Oct. 7.
McGuinn, founder of The Byrds and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, will perform at 8 p.m. at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, 15498 Espola Road.
“It’s kind of a one-man show,” said McGuinn. “More like a theatrical show than a concert.”
The show will include many of McGuinn’s hit songs, both with The Byrds and as a solo artist, and stories about his long career as a musician.
McGuinn said he began incorporating stories into his performances back in the late 1980s, after a reviewer called his show “boring” for not talking to the audience and telling stories.
“Back with The Byrds, it was not cool to talk on stage,” McGuinn said. “You would just announce the next song.”
McGuinn said he thought it was a valid criticism and he and his wife, Camilla, worked on thinking of things he could say during a concert. From there, it grew into the one-man show it is today.
While he enjoyed his time in The Byrds and performing with other musicians, being a solo artist like Pete Seeger was always his dream, McGuinn said. “When I was a kid, I used to go see Pete Seeger (perform). After Pete quit The Weavers, I used to wonder how he would carry the show himself, but he was amazing (solo). I wanted to do that when I grew up.”
McGuinn said that he knew in his heart that he wanted to do what Seeger did and go solo. Following a reunion in the 1980s with some of his Byrds bandmates, he said he decided to pursue his solo dreams and has been touring solo steadily since.
McGuinn and his wife tour alone, driving themselves around the country. “(A friend) suggested that the most fun he had ever had (touring) was touring the country in an RV.” McGuinn gave it a try, making his wife his tour manager.
The couple have been touring the world together for over 30 years in what McGuinn said was “like a honeymoon.” They avoid air travel when possible, mostly due to the hassle of flying, McGuinn said, and instead choose to drive in the United States and having taken the Queen Mary II across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe four or five times.
“Everything combined about travel is what we love to do,” he said. “Excitement onstage, a big party with the audience and it’s like a honeymoon with my wife. We stopped doing everything on the road we don’t like, like (performing at) nightclubs, festivals and casinos.” McGuinn said he sticks to performing at nice performing arts centers and theaters because “that’s just what we like to do.”
McGuinn and his wife spend up to half the year touring, he said, taking their time exploring the open road. “For this tour, we’re doing 11 shows in two months.”
Despite traveling so much, McGuinn said it doesn’t get old. “If you travel in a comfortable way, it’s fun. If you love what you’re doing, it’s not like work.”
Tickets for the show range from $23 to $60 and are available at the box office, by calling 858-748-0505 or online at powayonstage.org.
Email: entertainment@pomeradonews.com
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