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| All photos by Kevin Norris |
Her voice, powerful and rich, filled the Durham Performing Arts Center. In person, her voice grabs you by the ear and demands attention.
Her music appeared to fuel her on stage. She’s constantly animating her songs with arm, leg and body motions as she dances across the stage and around the band. At times the movements turn into cues as she directs her band members. Her stage presence is commanding.
In between songs, she dealt with audience members with kindness and humor. One particular instance — she caught a man in the front row telling his friend she had “a good booty” — provided fodder for the rest of the night.
The concert featured songs from her newest project, Leave Your Sleep. Each song was inspired by and adapted from poems about, for or by children. Merchant took time to introduce each song with a brief slide show and biography of its respective poet/poem. She beamed with pride during each introduction like a student presenting her final project.
Her new material showcases her versatility by covering a wide range of world folk music styles. The audience was appreciative, but didn’t seem too familiar with the songs until “Bleezer’s Ice-cream” was performed. Hopefully this show will inspire folks to listen to the new album more because these songs are remarkably polished. The powerful blues “The Peppery Man” was particularly impressive.
She left the stage to a standing ovation only to return minutes later for an encore. These tunes needed no extra introduction and Merchant played them all back-to-back, the crowd whooping after a few bars when they recognized each. For the first time all night, a few folks stood up and danced. While the intro of “Wonder” played, Merchant announced it would be the band’s last song. A chunk of the audience left afterwards, but the remaining members cheered and pleaded for more.
Merchant and her band returned to play “The Letter” during which she seemed to get her second wind.
“You can go home, but we’re going to keep playing music!” Merchant said to cheers.
They closed out with the ever popular “These are Days” and “Kind & Generous.” Finally, the whole audience was standing. Some were dancing, some swaying and some cuddling, but all eyes were fixed on Merchant.
Set list
The Sleepy Giant
The Man in the Wilderness
The King of China’s Daughter
Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience
Spring and Fall: To a Young Child
Maggie and Milly and Molly and May
The Peppery Man
The Janitor’s Boy
Bleezer’s Ice-cream
Adventures of Isabel
Calico Pie
If No One Ever Marries Me
The Dancing Bear
The Equestrienne
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River
The Worst Thing
Gold Rush Brides
Motherland
Hey Jack Kerouac
Break Your Heart
Carnival
Wonder
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The Letter
These Are Days
Kind & Generous
3 comments:
This show was absolutely amazing! Her voice fills the soul with joy. I have been a huge fan since the beginning of her solo days and having the chance to finally be able to see first hand the body that entrancing voice comes out of was a true treat!
"In between songs, she dealt with audience members with kindness and humor. One particular instance — she caught a man in the front row telling his friend she had 'a good booty' — provided fodder for the rest of the night."
I was standing within earshot of this man and that actually isn't what he said at all. He even tried to clarify that with Natalie but she couldn't hear him so she misinterpreted his comment as well. What the man said was, he thought her booty was still looking good after all these years. He was saying it directly to her, not to anyone else.
Thanks for the clarification, Joenathan.
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