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... by Joanne Corsano ... joanne@picturelake.com

Pete Kennedy, Stone Soup Coffeehouse, Providence, RI
click thumbnail to see a photo gallery
of the concert

Maura Kennedy, vocals and Gibson guitar; Pete Kennedy, 6-string and 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, vocals.

Life Is Large - Half a Million Miles - Umbrella - I Found a Road - Gulf Coast Highway {Nanci Griffith} - River of Fallen Stars - Can't Kill Hope With A Gun - Catch the Wind {Donovan} - Your Costume's in the Back {Pete reads from his memoir} - Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End {The Beatles} ... intermission ... New Set Of Wheels - Headwinds - Little Green Bottles - The Sky Doesn't Look Right - Free - Safe Until Tomorrow - Midnight Ghost ... encore ... Stand

Scroll to below videos for a review of the show.

River of Fallen Stars

Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End

Headwinds

We had seen Pete and Maura Kennedy perform at the Stone Soup Coffeehouse once before, on March 18, 2017. So we were befuddled when we put the address of the venue into our mapping program and up came a location in the very hilly section of Providence, RI, near Brown University, that didn't seem at all familiar. Turns out the venue has moved from their convenient and easy to find location near the historic Slater Mill in Pawtucket (a suburb of Providence) to this new spot. We began the evening by driving around the block a handful of times before finally finding on-street parking, then having a really good Asian meal in the nearby Den Den restaurant, and then laboring up a 14% grade to get to the venue.

It's not always easy getting to a venue, of course; in my time I've had all kinds of adventures along those lines. Once inside, usually the pains of the transportation disappear, and that was certainly the case tonight. Maura played her Gibson guitar and looked elegant in a long dress. Pete alternated between a 6-string and a 12-string Rickenbacker and was in great form on both. They started with a selection of beloved classics, featuring some of their best-known songs. They also played Donovan's "Catch The Wind," a song that makes me cry every time, and also had a lot of fun with the Beatles medley in which Maura does a really groovy Ringo drum solo by pounding on the strings of her guitar.

After a brief intermission, they returned with a tasty sampling of four songs from their new album (due out this summer). These included "New Set of Wheels," the old style car song twisted around for the new age woman (just brilliant). They played a couple of requests, including "Free" (my request) and ended up with what are probably their best loved live numbers, the rockin' "Midnight Ghost" and then the profound and beautiful "Stand" (the audience did).

There was no opening act, which I usually prefer since it leaves more time for the headliner to perform. Both Pete and Maura were in great spirits and seem to be genuinely happy to be on the road again performing to live audiences. They seemed grateful to those of us who watched the 100+ live streams that they performed every Sunday afternoon during the worst of the pandemic; and I for one am happy that they are continuing this streaming show once a month.

Once inside, the venue was very nice. Known as the Music Mansion, the tastefully decorated room is actually a historic listening room that hosts several different music series, including classical and jazz music.

Here is a page with a handy list of links to all pages on this website with content relating to Pete and Maura.