MOG

The strumming and finger picking steadily built for nearly 10 minutes before becoming the familiar "Duet For Guitars, No. 3" off of Transfiguration of Vincent. M. Ward's opener to his January 26th show at the Town Hall Theatre in New York put his virtuosic guitar skills on full display, and set the tone for a very intimate, special performance at an historic NYC venue well-suited for such things. (You can see it here, but much much better in person - http://uncutvideo.aol.com/videos/8cfac3224dc10529c6bc240f0cc863b9)

He then broke in to the popular "Chinese Translation" (see it here- http://uncutvideo.aol.com/users/tixgirl/6b2bad4cdd51d9b42b66c782ca00adb6?index=0) from his most recent album, Post-War, and followed with an hour and a half of songs from several of his albums, as well as some great covers (like Daniel Johnston's "Story of an Artist," which got some laughs from the crowd).

M. (as in Matt) Ward put on quite a show - an intimate, engaging performance of well-crafted, honest songs by a great musician easily jumping back and forth between his trusty Gibson acoustic, a harmonica, and piano. It was all that I'd hoped for. For one of the songs in the encore, Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) quietly walked out, unannounced, and joined Matt for "O'Brien Nocturne" from End of Amnesia before just as quickly disappearing from the stage. (I'd seen them perform the same song, with M. Ward as the guest, on Austin City Limits on PBS.)

Great night. If you aren't familiar with M. Ward, check him out. If you are, you missed a great show. HAHA!