A Valentine's gift from my beau was two tickets to experience Harry Connick Jr. in concert.
I knew Harry was a great musician and I even knew he was a great singer but I had no idea to the extent of his singing talent. The man can belt out the tunes!
Dressed in black tie, he was the ever professional and entertaining showman, even taking time out to chat with the audience with the occasional banter between himself and the show goers.
With Harry Connick, Jr. were his approximate 10 man orchestra; trumpets, trombones, saxophones, drums, and a cello - all played absolutely stunning New Orleans styled bluesy Cajun music. Each musician gave a stellar solo performance.
He gave many an accolade to the supporters and contributors of the Katrina relief effort and even sang a special thank you song to the Huntsville community.
The show was held in the intimate setting of the concert hall of the Von Braun Civic Center, which seats approximately 2,000 audience members and the concert lasted about an hour and a half that went by too quickly. After seeing the man in concert I told my significant other that I would gladly follow Harry Connick Jr. where ever he goes on tour. I would go to Harry's show again and again. He is a great performer and musician.
The concert started off with several solos by the musicians themselves, before Harry even came on stage. The "intro" with solos lasted about 20 minutes and was phenomenal.
We sat in the lower level of the civic center, about half way up, and just a tad left of stage. Harry Connick, Jr. performed all of the songs form his new CD, Oh My NOLA, which included four original recordings titled, "All These People", "We Make A Lot Of Love", "Do Dat Thing", and the cover title, "Oh My Nola".
I have to give some props out to the Von Braun Civic Center as well. We are getting more and more big headliners coming to Huntsville and while the Harry Connick Jr. concert was filled to capacity, the logistics of the event went smoothly. We had no problem parking, walked right in and were seated immediately, when we left the concert and got back to our car there was no waiting around in long lines of traffic trying to get out of the place. Normally, I am not one for big crowds but this was a piece of cake for me to attend. That, and well, Harry Connick Jr. is worth it!
Review by c.a. Marks
http://camarks.blogspot.com/