Tift Merritt receives warm welcome at NC Museum of Art

It was a hot, muggy night to be outside for a concert at the North Carolina Museum of Art on Saturday night, but as the sun went down, the temperature dropped and Tift Merrit celebrated the release of her new album See You on the Moon.

Merritt and her band played every song from the new album, starting things off with "The Things That Everybody Does." The set was peppered with some hits from past albums including "Broken," "Stray Paper" and "Ain't Looking Too Closely."

The packed crowd spread about on the lawn of the museum ate up every moment, screaming professions of love and other kind words between songs. Merritt stated that "This is basically my favorite night of the whole year," later stating that it's hard to move on with the tour and go to places like Pittsburgh.

After returning to the stage for an encore, the crowd was treated to a surprise when drummer Zeke Hutchins, also Tift's husband, walked to the front of the stage with a ukulele to sing a goofy little tune about Evil Knievel.

Merritt went back to her debut solo album to play the title track "Bramble Rose" before playing the final new song of the night "Papercut." The show closed with the fantastic "Good Hearted Man" and then Merritt took her time leaving the stage, waving to everyone thanking the crowd repeatedly. No matter where Merritt lives, it's clear that Raleigh will always be her home.

Canadian songwriter and Broken Social Scene member Jason Collett flew in from the Great White North to open the show. His set was short and entertaining, especially some of the stories, which were not very family friendly. Most of them centered around sex, drugs or both in one way or another, but the kids running around on the lawn didn't seem to notice.

Collett played a pair of songs, "High Summer" and "Love is a Chain" from his latest album Rat a Tat Tat, but opted for a more rounded set, pulling tunes from his previous three albums too. It made for a great set.

Tift Merritt set list
The Things That Everybody Does
All the Reasons We Don't Have to Fight
Engine to Turn
Broken
Six More Days of Rain
Mixtape
After Today
Danny's Song
Never Talk About It
Stray Paper
Ain't Looking Closely
Live Till You Die
Feel of the World
See You on the Moon
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(Zeke's Evil Knievel song)
Another Country
Bramble Rose
Papercut
Good Hearted Man

Jason Collett set list
Honey I Don't Know
Bitter Beauty
Not Over You
Almost Summer
High Summer
Love is a Chain
No Redemption Song
My Daddy Was a Rock 'n Roller

[all photos by Kevin Norris]

Tift Merritt





Jason Collett