Hot on the heels of his Kings of Vegas Lounge Sessions Tour, which has been inundating regional town centres and capital cities across the country, winner of Voice Australia 2013 Harrison Craig brings his new show to the Ballina RSL.
His new two-hour concert showcases the songs from Kings of Vegas while at the same time pays homage to Nat King Cole, Sinatra’s Rat Pack, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Mel Torme and Frankie Hall.
It was singing in Vegas that seeded Harrison’s latest creative endeavour. A town that Harrison describes as ‘a crazy town. Nowadays it’s more plastic then it was back in the day. It was very real and tangible back then; now tourism and globalism have changed it a tad, but it still has that feeling when you walk through the streets. You think to a degree that maybe this was what it was like to live that life in that town…’
By ‘that life’ Harrison is talking of – the golden era of Vegas during the 50s and 60s, something that happened way before he was born – but with a nostalgia so infectious he’s been hooked since he could walk.
‘My mum loved Nat King Cole so I was raised listening to that and I just love it. I used to croon along with it!’
Harrison believes that this music has lasted because it is timeless.
‘The way the songs were written, directed and orchestrated… Nothing was done in a small way. I came back from Vegas extremely inspired. I knew exactly what kind of record I wanted to make.’
Every artist who sings these songs has to leave something of themselves in the song while paying homage to the genre. It’s something Harrison has developed and was why he won the 2013 reality TV singing competition.
‘When you hear a standard such as Come Fly with Me, you know the kind of rise and flow, and it’s totally up to you how to interpret it; it really depends what you want to go for. I try to put my own tone into the tune, my own spin on it to a certain degree, so if I performed The Lady is a Tramp, you try to put your own spin on it so they think that’s your version of the song. You want your version to be fantastic, to create a new memory for your audience.’
This show isn’t about the big-band experience; it’s about Harrison and a piano.
To experience a unique and personal show come check out Harrison Craig at the Ballina RSL on Saturday.
Tickets from www.ballinarsl.com.au or (02) 6686 2544.
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