Maura gave a brilliant performance last night at the Irvington Town Hall, an intimate 400-seat, beautifully restored 19th-century music hall.

She was in exceptional voice throughout and radiated love and enthusiasm for both the songs and her audience.

She opened with "To Be the One" and her energy never flagged, despite the wilting heat and humidity.

The program was broken into two sets with a brief intermission, which made for a full 2 1/2 hr. show. She sang songs from all of her CDs, (oh heck, albums) except possibly A True Life Story.

Highlights for me included "Walls," "Trouble in the Fields"(her version should be required listening for anyone who wants to sing love songs), "The Scholar," "Blessing," and "Crazy Love"(encore).

Two moments were especially captivating. First, she hushed the audience with "Time to Learn," a song about coming to terms with grief, and then breathed life back into the theater with a beautiful version of "Western Highway." Stunning. Second, for her initial encore, she returned to the stage unaccompanied and set the mic aside and sang "My Laghan(sp?) Love," a cappella. Just beautiful.

We weren't able to stay for the Cd signing because it was Sunday night, we had to drive......
All in all, it was one of the best shows we've been to and we've seen a bunch, including a great one at the Bottom Line when Robert Earl Keen opened for her.

The Irvington Town Hall is a fine venue, with a great sound system etc., perhaps a new home for Maura in the NYC area and yet I hold out hope for a club to replace the Bottom Line.

Thanks for a great show and come back to NYC and the area soon.

Forgot to mention another highlight was Galileo, a beautiful new song by Declan O'Rourke,(see I was listening), which I hope will be on the new CD, whenever that is.