by: Michael Zabrodsky; page: 1

Young and old gathered at the Reg Lenna Civic Center Tuesday to watch a heartwarming performance by the 10,000 Maniacs.

The concert was a benefit for St. Susan's Soup Kitchen, 10 Prospect St. Bassist Steven Gustafson said the soup kitchen serves about 4,300 meals a month.

Just before the Maniacs began playing, a large movie screen was lowered and an old promotional clip of Jamestown was shown. As the band took to the stage, the sellout crowd gave a standing ovation.

Some fans filed their way to the stage and were dancing in the aisles. They were politely asked by singer Natalie Merchant to return to their seats because of strict fire codes that prohibited any dancing near the stage or in the aisles.

The band played hits Like the Weather, Eat for Two, What's the Matter Here? and Dust Bowl. "Dust Bowl was written for all the children in Jamestown in the winter who walk around without mittens or boots," Ms. Merchant said.

The sound in the Civic Center was incredible. Their music was very clear. Opening for the 10,000 Maniacs were Mary Ramsey and former band member John Lombardo, along with city-native bassist Butch Amiot. The acoustic trio had a very full sound and Ms. Ramsey's vocals were well heard throughout most of the center. They did a different rendition Squeeze's Labelled With Love. Maniacs' drummer Jerome Augustyniak and guitarist Robert Buck joined them for the last two songs. Ms. Ramsey also sang backing vocals on the popular tune Trouble Me.

During A Campfire Song, Oliver, the band's sound man, appeared on stage at Ms. Merchant's urging and sung the male vocals. He then left the stage and took his rightful place behind the sound-mixing console. At the end of the song Ms. Merchant said it was his birthday and got the crowd to join in singing Happy Birthday to Oliver.

This was the band's last stop on its brief Time Capsule tour. After Thanksgiving, the band will depart for London, where it will play three dates and do one BBC radio show and one TV show.

Hope Chest is the band's current release. It is a double disc set of two hard-to-find early recordings, Secrets of the I Ching and Human Conflict No. 5. Lombardo joined the band Tuesday as it played songs from the early 1980s, including Daktari, The Latin One and My Mother the War, in which Ms. Merchant held a banner with a peace sign in front of her throughout the song.

The first two independent albums were recorded at the State College at Fredonia in 1982 and '83, which were later remixed by Ms. Merchant and Lombardo.

The band played several songs in two encores and received standing ovations for each. A moving rendition of Verdi Cries was the last song of the concert. Ms. Merchant said she wrote it when the band used to practice in the old Palace Theater, before it was renovated and became the Reg Lenna. She said she had heard talk of ghosts in the old theater and that one time, while alone in the theater, she sat down at the piano at 2 a.m. and did not leave the theater until daybreak. And so the the beautiful ballad was born.