Charlotte Symphony Pops: Natalie Merchant

My wife and I attended the March 23rd show at the fantastic Belk Theater. We really did not know what to expect, however we have been Natalie Merchant fans for some time and we both love her voice. Even 20 years later her voice is still remarkable. She could sing a menu and make it sound great. The evening, however was quite strange. She sang almost entirely from her "new" work which is comprised of 19th and 20th century obscure childrens poems. I am no literary scholar, but even I appreciated the first 5 or 6 songs, but by poem/song 15, I was bored to tears and frankly embarassed for Ms. Merchant who appeared to be much older than her 47 years and dressed like an old maid. Unfortunately, she also felt it necessary to dance (sort of) during long symphony solos in a style reminiscent of a mix of Waltz, Woodstock and Curly from the Three Stooges. She also berated the audience a few times and spoke as if she was talking to a kindergarten class. She used notes to read lyrics for one song and saved anything remotely recognizable until the encore. She then sang 3 or 4 songs that I knew (actually better than her - she had to restart a couple of times) as if throwing us all a bone for suffering through 2.5 hours of bad music and really bad dancing. It was an uncomfortable evening that I would like to have back. I have seen a wide variety of shows at the Belk Theater and enjoyed every one of them until this one. Not my cup of tea.

I saw her with the NC Symphony last Spring and it was a great show, both with the symphony and alone with her 2 musicians.