December 5, 2022

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Karla Bonoff and Livingston Taylor kicked off their Holiday Tour last night and brought a festive mood to The Kent Stage.

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Both artists appeared on stage at the start of the show, along with Bonoff's guitarist to play her hit "Home."

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Taylor then took center stage by himself to go through some of his tunes as well as  a couple of covers and even a few Christmas songs.

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Taylor alternated between his guitar, which he said "never sounds as good as it does when I'm in the great state of Ohio" and the piano.

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He mentioned that people ask him if he wrote a lot of music during Covid.  He quipped, "no, I did the same thing you did!  I stayed on the couch and watched a lot of TV."  He noted that he was watching Kirk Douglas sing in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, so he hopped off the couch and immediately learned how to play "A Whale Of A Tale" and entertained the audience with a rousing version of the tune. 

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"My Perfect Christmas Day" and "Home For The Holidays" ended Taylor's solo set.  However, Bonoff came back out to duet on a beautiful version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" before a brief intermission.

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Bonoff and her guitarist returned with Karla sitting at the piano as she went into "In The Bleak Midwinter."  She mentioned that she recorded an entire Christmas album during the summer of 2020 and played a few selections from that disc later in the show.

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"All My Life" a song popularized by Linda Rondstadt and Aaron Neville but written by Bonoff was beautifully played.

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"River" by Joni Mitchell and "A Christmas Song" were sung brilliantly.  One would never guess that Bonoff will be celebrating her seventy first birthday at the end of the month. 

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Livingston Taylor then rejoined Bonoff to duet on "Joy To the World" and "Silent Night" to close out the main set.

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The trio exited the stage to return with Santa hats and an elf hat to close out the show with "Santa Clause Is Coming To Town" and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas."

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It was a great way to kick off the holiday season.

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan

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Bonoff then 

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