The place was almost sold out, which I thought was pretty impressive, because he had done a free outdoor show at the Taste of Chicago during the 4th of July Weekend. I saw both shows, and let me tell you, Harry indoors with lights and an awesome sound system blew away what I thought was a damn good outdoor show.

One minute it was Harry on piano and vocals, and the next thing I knew, he was on the bass, guitar, drums, and trumpet -- and he played them all pretty well, especially the bass. His versatility was awesome.

They played four or five tracks from Star Turtle, along with a touch of gospel, rock 'n roll, and other vocal stuff that you can only get in concert. There was a sweet version of "America", which broke into a great Dixie-like trio of Harry on the trumpet, Lucien Barbarin on the trombone, and Dave Schumacher on the bari sax.

As amazing as Harry is, you've gotta give a lot of credit to the band. Dan Miller, a Chicago native, established himself as a crowd favorite with some incredible trumpet playing, and drummer Raymond Weber showed off some of his own musical versatility by playing a bit on the keyboards. Mark Mullins and Lucien Barbarin went at each other in an improv duel, and it was one the most intense things I'd ever heard. This, of course, not to mention the showmanship of guitarist Jonathan DuBose and the vocals and playing of bassist Tony Hall. This just leaves out tenor sax Ned Goold, who doesn't deserve any praise because he came into Chicago with a New York Knicks hat on. =)

The thing that I thought was unbelievable (other than the fact that I paid $25 for a hat -- although I must admit it is a cool hat) was how nice Harry was. After playing for almost two and a half hours, he signed tickets, posters, and T-shirts for at least 200 people. If that's not class, I'm not sure what is.

At any rate, I just wanted you all to know that the Star Turtle concert really was the greatest show I've ever seen, and if you have a chance to get tickets and see him live, it's well, well worth it.