concert

My wife and I last saw Harry Connick, Jr. when he came through Clearwater on his “Your Songs” tour back in 2010. Back in March he announced a short tour in June to celebrate the New Orleans Tricentennial. Clearwater was lucky to have two dates on the tour so I of course got us tickets to the second show at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

Like last time, we couldn’t remember if this was now the fifth or sixth time we’ve seen Harry in concert. I think this was #5 as I’m pretty sure we’ve seen him three times now here in Florida and twice when we still lived in Cleveland. No matter, every show has been amazing and this one was no exception. For just under two hours (with no intermission) Harry and the band entertained the audience with New Orleans-style jazz (including a jazz funeral with “When the Saints Go Marching In”) and other musical styles he’s played over his career (big band, gospel, funk, etc.). Familiar tunes included “We Are,” “Here Comes the Big Parade,” “Come By Me,” “What a Wonderful World,” “Yes We Can Can,” and a medley of songs from “When Harry Met Sally” including, of course, “It Had to be You” (a personal favorite). Like before he showed off his talents by not only singing and playing the piano, but playing the trumpet, tap dancing (!), and even playing the drums and two pianos during the encore number (“Big Chief”). Just incredible.

The entertainment wasn’t just the music, however. Harry is great with the crowd and the show is a nice mix of musical numbers and him talking (which gives the musicians a break). He spoke to a 9-year old kid in the front row and even brought him up on stage to play piano!

So it was another great show. I did find it funny that, despite the hall’s policy against photos and video recording, a lot of people were using their phones to take pictures and recording. Even funnier, they were all older folks. I joked to my wife “I wish these old people would put away their phones and enjoy the show!” 😀

This evening my wife and I went to Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater to see Harry Connick, Jr. who’s touring in support of his new album, “Your Songs.” This was either the fourth or fifth time we’ve seen Harry in concert (we couldn’t remember exactly) and it was a great show as always.

The way the musicians were arranged on-stage helped showcase the three different styles of music we would be hearing. On the left were the strings for the orchestral numbers, in the center were the drums and bass, which combined with Harry on piano for the traditional jazz combo style, and then on the right were the trumpets, trombones, and saxophones for the big band numbers. For two hours he played a good mix of songs from the new CD and other recent releases plus a few of his trademark New Orleans jazz combo numbers. In addition to singing and playing the piano (of course) he also played trumpet and bass! “I suck” he joked, but of course he was pretty good.

During the breaks between sets he would talk and interact with the audience, which is always entertaining. He talked about how great it was for New Orleans to have the Saints as the Super Bowl champions (he apparently went to the game and got to meet a lot of the players afterwards). He jokingly talked about how 94% of the country doesn’t understand the “who dat?” chant and proposed (and briefly sang) a more understandable “who is that?” version. He told a funny story about his recent trip to the Grammys where he met Jennifer Hudson and had “her junk” on his arm during a photo shoot (“and she has a lot of junk!”). Another memorable  moment was when he said one of his daughter’s friends said he played “grandpa music” and the four women in his house would rather go see Kesha than him (which prompted  him to sing a few bars of “Tik Tok“). 🙂

Like my “Good Eats Live” experience last summer, however, there was a negative aspect to the show that will taint my memory of it … the super-annoying lady sitting directly behind us was a “woo girl.” Yes, at the beginning of every song she recognized, she had to shout “woooo!” at the top of her lungs in her ear-piercing, high-pitched voice. And not only that, she took advantage of silent moments to yell out song requests (“play ‘Come By Me!'”) or inappropriate comments (“Harry’s hot!”). By the end of the concert I was ready to turn around and strangle her. Arrrgh! There were a few other annoying hecklers in the crowd, but Harry dealt with them good naturedly (“it’s my name on the marquee, I’ll handle the comedy.”). Of course the theater had a strict policy on photographs and videotaping, but at the end of the show Harry posed for a picture with a lady in the front row and all of a sudden everyone had their cellphones and cameras out and were snapping photos. It must have been driving the ushers mad.

Overall, it was a great show and a good time. My favorite performance is still the one we saw in Cleveland during the “She”/”Star Turtle” tour when he was playing with the funk band in the mid-90s, but the jazz and big band shows are really good too and I’ll always go to see  him when I have the chance.