What: Harrison Craig – Kings Of Vegas Tour
When: 5th May, 2017
Where: The Palms, Crown Casino, Melbourne

For more information on Harrison, please visit: www.harrisoncraigofficial.com

The first set was a celebration of his new album, Kings of Vegas and focused on Las Vegas as the inspiration. Through stories of his time there (and teasing the audience of how he recently fell in love – with a car, mind you), he gave an insight into the icons he listened to growing up and how they affected the making of the album and tour.

Even though he struggled a little at the beginning in the moments between songs, the second set felt more successful in my eyes. I’m unsure if this was due to Harrison easing into it more, focused less on Las Vegas or because he sang a collection of modern classics, which was more to my taste. His original, More Than A Dream, You Raise Me Up, Unchained Melody and the surprising, Piano Man were the crowd favourites. Every bit of passion and emotion could be felt in every word. Benny and the Jets did seem an odd choice, but may be due to me not personally liking the song, but it did display Harrison’s top vocal range.

From the first set, the standouts were How Do You Keep The Music Playing? and My Eyes Adored You (in which he took school-girl Stevie to stage and sang to her – it was beautifully romantic). Like a true gentlemen, he walked her back to her seat. He also picked out a number of keen dancers from the audience during the final song, She’s A Lady, mentioned the release of his book, Harrison’s Song and took a selfie with the crowd towards the end of the night.

Here’s a preview of How Do You Keep The Music Playing? for you.

Being the night that kicked off the tour (you could tell that starting the tour in his hometown was important to him), I can only imagine how Harrison will grow to make the show better in the months to come.

His talent is undeniable and his voice immerse. At times I was awestruck at just how breathtaking his vocals are. The Palms is a gorgeous venue with beautiful lighting. There’s no theatrics. The simple staging of man and piano allows Harrison to shine. The night (sell out, full house) was enjoyable and a good show overall. His fans are loyal and the love for him in the room was palpable.

When he wasn’t sure what to say, he would fall back on complimenting the audience. He shone best when he and his pianist Josh shared in a natural and unrehearsed laugh together. One of the big reasons people fell in love with Harrison to begin with was not only his voice, that’s a given, but because of his friendly, down-to-Earth, family-orientated nature, so focusing on personal stories would suit him better overall during crowd interaction.

Lounge music is timeless, deceivingly simple yet beautifully crafted, but sometimes songs can border on being almost monotone (meaning the tone/pitch doesn’t change), so they can be a tough sell. I’m unsure if he’s done enough to bring swing back, but I love the direction he’s heading and I cannot wait to see how this influences his original songwriting in the future.

Set List:

• Almost Like Being In Love
• Benny and the Jets
• Can’t Help Falling In Love You
• Come Fly With Me
• Comin’ Home Baby
• Danke Schoen
  
• Fever
• Fly Me To The Moon
• Home
• How Do You Keep The Music Playing?
• It Was A Very Good Year
• I’ve Got You Under My Skin
• L.O.V.E.
• More Than A Dream
• My Eyes Adored You
• One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
  
• Piano Man
• Put Your Head On My Shoulder
• Route 66
• She’s A Lady
• Unchained Melody
• You Raise Me Up

^ there may have been more – going off memory

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