Photos and Review by Brian Gallo
Gallery: Haley Reinhart
Haley Reinhart made a stop at The Kate(The Katherine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center) in Old Saybrook, Connecticut on her current “Off The Ground Tour”. The former American Idol star treated the audience to nothing short of a flawless performance. If you’re not familiar with Haley I highly suggest giving her a listen. 5 million plus monthly listeners on Spotify agree with me. She captures an old soul in this modern day of music that is just beautiful. She has a mix of pop, rock, blues, jazz, funk, r&b, and more.
Haley is a singer, songwriter, and actress from Wheeling, Illinois. She began her career with a strong third place finish on the TV Show and singing competition “American Idol”. She was signed soon after to Interscope Records and released her first album “Listen Up!” in May of 2012. Her career and name became more noticeable after performing with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox in 2015. She has released a few very notable covers that include “Creep” by Radiohead as well as “Can’t Help Falling In Love” by Elvis Presley. Both of these songs were very memorable moments of her performance this evening as well.
Her second album, “Better”, was released in April 2016. This reached number 22 on the Billboard charts and led to her touring both the US and Europe. She followed this with other releases including “What’s The Sound” (2017), “Lo-Fi Soul” (2019), and “Off The Ground” (2022). She also saw herself changing record labels and eventually turning Independent.
Another key moment of her career, which she also talks about during her show, is her performance with Jeff Goldblum on his debut album “The Capitol Studios Sessions” in 2018. Together they recorded “My Baby Just Cares For Me” in one take! You don’t hear that often. To me, this shows her talent is simply endless.
The Kate was the perfect venue to see her perform as well. I was met with warm smiles and amazingly helpful staff the entire evening. They were a great source to talk to about the history of the venue and more. The sound was spot on and did her talented voice justice all performance with every note.
To sum up, this was my first time seeing Haley and being at this venue and it was well worth it in every sense. Three standing ovations for her tell me everyone there felt the same! If I can be at her performance this Friday at The Wall Street Theater in Norwalk I will be!
The Setlist:
Take Yo Praise (Camille Yarbrough cover)
Change
Off The Ground
Crack The Code
Broken Record
Don’t Know How To Love You
The Wind Cries Mary (Jimi Hendrix cover)
Wasted Tears
Honey, There’s The Door
Roll The Dice
21st Century
Lovergirl
I Put A Spell On You (Jay Hawkins cover)
Can’t Help Falling In Love (Elvis Presley cover)
Oh Damn
My Baby Just Cares For Me (Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn cover)
Feelin’ Good/ Oh My!
Encore:
Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix cover)
Creep (Radiohead cover)