Salt Lake City, UT
July 14, 1999
Review #1
submitted by Clint Burgi
I attended the Wednesday, July 14th show at the E Center in Salt Lake
City. It was my first time seeing Harry live and it was well worth it.
I had 5th row seats that were just to the left of the piano. I thought
that it would be tough to see because his back was to my seat, but it
turned out great because I had a perfect view of his hands working the
keys. Most of what he played I was unfamiliar with, though his second
song was We are in Love. The screaming from all the women was okay at
first, but after he commented on one of the "I love you Harry!"
comments, they did not stop and got old quickly. He seemed pretty
tired from the beginning, but his energy increased throughout the
performance. At one point he interacted with a fourteen year-old fan on
the front row who seemed to be bored. Harry told him that if he
remembered anything from the show, to remember what was next. He then
introduced Leroy Jones and the man playing the trombone (Lucien) as
living legends. He even went so far as to say the he himself was not a
living legend, something that everyone in the audience disagreed with.
They both had solos for the next song, then Leroy played a little Louis
Armstrong and sang "Wonderful World" to a standing ovation. The high
point of the concert was when he played "Come By Me". The piano on that
song is so phenomenal to listen to and watch him play. I could not hear
his singing on his encore, but I could see that his dance moves were a
little diffrerent. It was outstanding!
Review #2
submitted by Christine Turner
I saw Harry in Salt Lake City, and it seems like a dream to me still. Of
course, Ned Goold started off, and that was nice. But, when he stopped,
there was a really long break while we waited for the main event. It felt
like the crowd was going to pop any minute in anticpation! But finally, the
band started coming on stage, and everyone went crazy! When the crowd was
still crazy after about 4 songs, Harry even told us to calm down, because we
had a lot of concert left. His fingers were on fire the whole concert, and
one of the best parts was his solo piano set, where he played a rendition of
"Sweet Georgia Brown" that knocked me off my feet! Then, later on, he
played "St. James Infirmary Blues" and Leroy Jones and Lucien Barbarin
played along. They stole the song with their solos, and later on, Leroy
Jones had his own moment, when he played and sang "What A Wonderful World"
in tribute to Louis Armstrong. It was fabulous, and he has a really nice
voice, although not low and gravelly, like the original. As everyone else
who has written reviews has said, Harry was charming and funny, and just a
great entertainer, and it was completely fabulous. In fact, now as I listen
to the CD, it's almost disappointing, because they had so much energy and
enthusiasm at the concert, that I wish I had a recording of those versions.
After the concert, Harry didn't sign autographs like he usually does,
although nobody I talked to really was sure why. A lot of people thought
that maybe it was because a lot of friends of his were at the concert, and
so he was visiting with them, instead, and he did comment on his friends,
and even dedicated the show to some of them. But, about 30 diehards waited
outside the gate where the busses emerged for about an hour, and when his
bus pulled out, he decided to stop and sign autographs for us, which
completely made my day, since I was about to go home in disappointment. By
then he had changed to a t-shirt, shorts, and a ball cap, which definately
made him seem more human, and I was really impressed with his friendliness,
and his graciousness at stopping for us! So, if you read this Harry, thanks
a lot!
