Even though Harry Connick Jr. has been performing since age 5, he’s still excited every time he takes the stage. “I love getting dressed and coming out and seeing all the people there,” he says. “It’s still mind-blowing that they want to hear me.” Ahead of his July 11 concert stop at Chastain Park, the three-time Grammy winner talked to Atlanta.
What can fans expect this time out?
I honestly haven’t planned it yet. The fun thing about going on the road is that the show is different every night. It’s completely unscripted and unrehearsed. People are clapping, and I turn to the band and say, ‘Let’s play this now.’ It’s really fun. But people probably have a general idea what we’re doing — it’s a lot of jazz music and standards and New Orleans stuff. I’m not going to go out in left field. I’m not doing a hip-hop show.
What’s special about performing in Atlanta?
Atlanta is a really cool combination of familiarity and excitement. Chastain is a great venue; you really never anticipate what the weather is going to be and what food people will bring. And yet I could walk around the backstage area — the dressing rooms, the catering, where the buses park — and find everything. It’s a very cool thing to walk into a venue like that. So I know it well even though it’s unpredictable. It’s like going somewhere over the holidays and all your relatives are there, but you don’t know how it’s going to turn out.
Will you get a chance to go outside your hotel room and explore?
Normally I don’t because of the schedule. We get to the venue in the afternoon, we play the gig, and we’re on to the next city. But for this tour, we play every other night. I don’t know how that time will be spent, but it’s cool to know there may be a night off where I can go out and see the local sights.
Which song do you never ever get sick of singing?
I don’t think I’ve ever done a song that I get sick of. Take ‘It Had to Be You.’ There are still nights when if I’m doing what I’m supposed to do — which is remain completely present — I’ll be like, ‘Oh, that’s what that means.’ There is always new stuff to figure out and discover, and I find comfort in that. If everything is going the way I hope, each song will feel alive. That’s the goal, anyway.
