"It'd better be good because I postponed my trip for this." That was the nagging thought on my mind as we stood in the line. After all, I only heard some of her songs a few times, and didn’t really know who she was except that she sang for Felicity, the series. As it turned out, It wasn’t just good. It was great.

A sincere celebration of music was what I felt that night. The concert was opened by Deb Tahlan, a budding young songwriter who started her career with a debut solo CD “Something Burning”. Burn she might not, but she did managed to warm the hearts of the audience with her songs and most certainly her latest track called "Ashes in Your Eyes".

After an interval of around 20 minutes Curtis finally took stage. Dressed simply in jeans and T-shirt, she opened with the popular "Magnolia Street" immediately pleasing the audience. After a few wise cracks on vibrating cell phones, bad air conditioning and the bitterly cold weather in the East, Curtis was evidently at ease with the crowd. In favour of the audience who were familiar with her music, Curtis began the night with songs from her latest album - My Shirt looks Good on You.

Curtis sang of freedom, love and religion. With an "Honest World", a song which she calls her gay anthem, she notes jokingly to the audience how she had been said by some critics to epitomize gay rights in her music even though she hasn’t been overtly expressive about her sexuality in her lyrics. Towards the end of the concert, Curtis invited both Tahlan and a member of the audience upstage, to do an acoustic rendition of yet another popular song, "Soulfully".

Like most concerts, there can be no closures without èncores. Curtis raised the spirits of the crowd further with songs like the “Kiss that Counted” and "Elizabeth". As the concert finally came to an end, Curtis has successfully won my heart over. As I made a beeline for her new release, Acoustic Valentine, I’m glad I waited to come for this. Impeccably, she has left a mark at John Foley and on me. On my way home in the car, her music was blasting because as Catie would have it, I simply cannot “ [fall] silently into the dark.”