The Kennedys ~ 2026 April 11 ~ Unity Hall at All Souls UU, New London, CT
Maura Kennedy, vocals and guitar; Pete Kennedy, vocals and guitar
Set List
Life Is Large - The Woods and the Wild - Late September Breeze - Without Us* - I'll Come Over - Gulf Coast Highway {Nanci Griffith} - River of Fallen Stars - Headwinds - Smoketree* ... intermission ... Like An Angel* - Long Road To Freedom* - 9th Street Billy - When I Go {Dave Carter} - Heal You* - Meant To Do* - Safe Until Tomorrow - Midnight Ghost ... encore ... Across the Universe {Beatles} - Stand
The song titles with the asterisks are expected to be on "Smoketree," due to be released later this year.
Review
Maura and Pete played an exceptionally good show at Unity Hall at All Souls UU, New London, CT. They played six songs from their upcoming album, to be titled "Smoketree," due for release later this year. These consisted of a good mix of uptempo, even rock songs (the title song and "Long Road to Freedom"), a bright folk singalong, the topic of which is the songwriting process ("Like an Angel"), a Pete-written autobiographical number about fulfilling one's destiny ("Meant to Do"), and a couple of songs about healing on a personal and planet-wide level ("Heal You" and "Without Us"). The rest of the set was a great balance of familiar Kennedys tunes, including one lovely chestnut I hadn't heard in a while on which Maura sounded really fine ("9th Street Billy"), and a tribute to the Artemis flight (in the form of John Lennon's "Across the Universe"), requested by moi. Of course ending the show with "Stand" in a Unitarian church was kinda a given. The two were playing identical guitars. It's always of interest to see what guitar or guitars Pete is going to be using in a particular performance.
In addition to Maura's lovely singing and Pete's far ranging guitar playing, it seems to me that Pete is taking on a bit more of the role as in-between-song entertainer. His droll wit seems to be more on display than ever. He has written a trio of novels (highly recommended, by the way) in which the protagonist, Artemis, is a sleuth, and he mentions that if she had been on the scene, the recent art heist at the Louvre would certainly not have happened.
Visually, this show was exceptionally appealing, with flowers on stage, and with the light colored, multicolored backdrop behind the stage looking really good in pictures, and both Maura and Pete dressing really nicely. Of course, Maura always dresses beautifully, and I chastise myself for not describing her stage clothes in these reviews. This time she was wearing a pretty black and white dress and silver shoes. Pete had a bit of a country thing going on with denim and a comfortable fedora.
This venue sponsors a folk concert once a month and usually live streams them. The performance space is roomy and seats a bigger crowd than some of the rooms where we've seen Maura and Pete play, and accommodated quite a few attentive fans who happily sang along when instructed to do so and laughed at Pete's banter. There's a good parking lot and the church was easy to find, and the fact that there was no opening act made for more time for the headliner. It was a longish drive from our home base on Cape Cod but this was the closest Pete and Maura were coming on this tour, and hearing the new songs definitely made the drive worthwhile.
More Kennedys
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