New Orleans’ heat rolled through the Palace Theatre Friday night on the tunes of Harry Connick, Jr. and an awesome group of funk musicians.’Please, if you wanna dance, go ahead and dance. If you wanna singÐÐ don’t sing it throws me off,’ Connick joked with the crowd. ‘Treat this as your own personal living room.’And that is exactly what people did, rushing toward the stage to get even an inch closer to Connick, with his encouragement. ‘If they tell you to go back to your seat tell them I said, ‘It’s all right,” Connick said.When one audience member was told to go back to her seat she calmly told the security guard, ‘Hey, Harry said we could.’After the audience arranged themselves in a frenzy around the stage the concert took off on a journey that would cross the genres of jazz, funk, pop and gospel. Connick, sporting a black tank top and black jeans began his mission to make the audience feel right at home. After a three hour jam the audience could have kicked off their shoes and danced in the aisles for the rest of the night. In a rendition of ‘America the Beautiful’ he played the trumpet along with the exceptionally talented horn section of his band. Connick’s soulful vocals swept images of Americana across the concert hall.In addition to his own songs, Connick sang ‘Drift Away’ by Joe Cocker. Connick really brought the audience into the show encouraging them to sing along with the chorus. Each member of the band is an incredible musician in his own right. Some of them played multiple instruments, including Connick, who rounded out the evening playing drums, organ, electric piano, baby grand piano and the bongos. As a matter of fact there wasn’t anything on the stage that he couldn’t make music with. Toward the end of the show he began a rhythm on the bongos moving to the Steinway and Sons baby grand. He began pounding a song’s rhythm on the piano’s top at varying places to change the pitch. Finally, he climbed onto the unlikely percussion instrument carrying the rhythm from his hands to his tap- dancing feet and he never missed a beat. Connick jumped to the floor and continued the pulse around the stage tapping and slapping his hands against his thighs.The crowd clapped and screamed until they could no longer hear the beat. The cheering ceased and the audience took a step back as they watched this renowned piano player and singer wow the audience with yet another talent. True to Connick’s jazz roots, each member of his band was given time to finesse their own versions of many of the nights melodies. During at least two of the songs, Connick showcased each performer with solos in the spotlight. Bass player George Porter, Jr. and guitar player Jonathan Dubose took over the microphone as they performed songs on their own during the show.Connick explained to the audience this was his way of making his fans aware of the many talents of his band members.’My name is already on the marquee,’ Connick said.Connick with his various selections for the evening played a few from his latest album Star Turtle, including ‘Hear Me in the Harmony’, a song written about James Booker , New Orleans piano master and Connick’s teacher, and ‘City Beneath the Sea’, about his native New Orleans. Just when you thought the music couldn’t get any better he pumped it up one more notch with a popular track from his She album. The entire theatre was pulsating with his music, still wanting more when Connick closed the show with ‘Whisper Your Name.’ Connick left the stage with every mouth on the block calling his name. After nearly five minutes the band returned to the stage to pacify the audience with one more song. With Porter and Dubose manning the vocals, Connick began wading through the crowd. He made his way on top of chairs in the box seats, down the aisles, up the back staircase to the balcony as shocked fans watched Connick walk right in front of them. And if the night couldn’t get any better for Connick’s fans, he signed autographs for a crowd of fifty or more waiting at the back of the theater.He said he wanted ‘to give you the best show of your life’ and he did.What a man, what a show, what a night.