THE FORECAST was for a warm and fuzzy night.

And with James Taylor as the main attraction, how could you possibly go wrong?

After being prepped by two straight nights of an interactive concert on A&E, Taylor has smartly brought essentially that same production on the road for a summer tour, the first date of which happened in the sweltering Civic Centre last night.

Outside, the towering scaffolds of today's alternative festival Edgefest seemed almost like a threatening, overpowering force in comparison to the cashmere comfort zone that surrounds everyone's favorite nice guy who was nestled inside.

And the fans who adore him like a favorite big brother got everything they wanted and more.

Without an opening act, Taylor and his eight- person back up unit breezed through an exceptionally lengthy 21/2-hour set, making sure to spotlight all the touchstones of his storied career.

On the upside of Taylor's performance is classic songwriting, amply adorned with one of the most soothing voices of pop's past quarter century.

There were many poignant moments in this show, most occurring when Taylor dipped into his "select" songs gift box.

Carolina In My Mind, Shower The People, Mexico, You've Got A Friend, Fire and Rain and Steamroller Blues -- all sounded surprisingly fresh.

But the most intriguing aspect about last evening's performance was the strong working of his new material from Hourglass.

The tunes had a snap to them.

Take the bilingual ditty Ananas as proof.

There's nothing particularly noteworthy about this song on paper, yet on the CD and even more so live the tune was given wings through the bass foundation and Steely Dan rhythm kick the band delivered as its soul.

The same goes for the catchy Line 'Em Up. The lovely layered harmonies make this one little contemporary gem.

James Taylor doesn't inspire one to fits of excitement. But, to his credit, he takes his performance to a professional level lacking in many of his peers and his easy, happy-go-lucky stage manner made us all feel perfectly at home.;

All that was missing was a group hug.

SUN RATING: 3.5 OUT OF 5