Natalie Merchant Tickets

I was very disappointed with the performance. I had expected that she would sing more of her old music. Instead she sang a lot of poems from the 20th century. Her voice is still amazing, but just didn't enjoy her latest songs. So sad.

Merchant put on a 2 1/2 hr show with 7 encores! The popular older songs were at the beginning and end. She dances with the music and it is very sweet and fun. She talks mostly when it comes to her newest album which includes songs about children's poetry. She teases the folks who come in late, since they are escorted just in front of her and it is pretty distracting for her maybe. Warning about the venue: it is cash only for parking, food, water, and rental chairs. You really need a chair on the grass because almost everyone else has one. They are not strict about the height of the chairs, only the 12" minimum height of the seat. The directions on the web site aren't great. Off of 522 - it doesn't say 175th. It says Woodinville.

The setting was beautiful at the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery and Natalie was enchanting and her interactions with the crowd were hilarious, great sense of humor. The band was great and we were happy that we took our 12 year old daughter to share in the experience with us. We highly recommend Natalie and thank her for playing the River song, such a treat!

Beautiful voice, beautiful venue. She has a great sense of humor and heckled the late comers. We only wish she would have played a few more of her classic hits.

I highly recommend this concert for people who like to pay to be insulted by a condescending artist with a really bad attitude. Also if you like to be educated on the history of unsuccessful authors of unremarkable children's poetry you will love this show. I wish I was kidding. She lost the audience from the first song -- I have never heard such tepid applause for a major entertainer in my life. She began her set by heckling a few people who arrived late, making Don Rickles seem like a teddy bear by comparison. There was a bit of nervous laughter at first, assuming she was attempting humor. However, throughout the show, even through the 10th song, if anyone got up to use the restroom or get some wine (this was an outdoor show at a winery!) even between songs she would call out to them and berate them. One person was bringing some food in and she mercilessly embarassed him and his "need for chicken wings." One guy told her he had to work late, and she said "the show starts at 7:00 o'clock sharp." A jet flying about 15,00 feet over us was the next victim for her scorn, even theorizing that he might be an offending member of the US Navy Blue Angels, whom she nicknamed "the silver menace." (The Blue Angels are in town this weekend, but it's not wise to berate them in this town with several US bases in the region. Besides which, their planes are not silver so I guess she's never been to a Blue Angles show.) Then she bitterly complained about the sun not going down fast enough for her Powerpoint presentation to be "vivid enough", but we quite like to see the sun in Seattle and by the way the sundown chart for August is published for anyone to see on the internet. Sometimes she tried to dance, squat and shimmy around in her wierd Bohemian "Eddie Brickell-esque" manner, but apparently she's so out of shape that she was heaving to the point of being unable to sing properly. Her set consisted mainly of musical interpretations of about 2 dozen obscure children's poems, which wasn't what I signed up for. She walked us through a Powerpoint presentation regarding the names and and birth dates of each author including their life history before each song, with all the condescention of a professor talking to idiot freshmen. She even made the crowd pronounce some of their names properly by saying them under her direction in unison and no, it wasn't funny or cute. I have always enjoyed her music, especially her backup to the Trinity Sessions Revisted, but once you encounter her (apparently on a particuarly bad night) it's hard to see past her jerk personality. Now that you have read this review, just look at her picture and notice how negative and judgmental she looks. A lot of people left the show early including one couple we met who regretted chosing this event to celebrate their 7th wedding anniversary. Save your money and time !

Almost the entire show consisted of songs based on children's poetry. She didn't sing any of her well-known songs until the encore. Then she sang 4 or 5 that I'd been looking forward to, and that was the end of the show. She talked about how the band didn't know any of the old songs, but they sounded great on all of them.

Extremely boring concert. Her voice, as always, is amazing, but didn't play any of her hits until the very end and then the band couldn't keep time with her. It was a long boring historical lesson full of poetry and songs about gnomes and monsters eating little boys. UGH!

The setting was wonderful, so was the weather - would've been a lot better to hear more of her older stuff from Tigerlilly and Ophelia; way too much time spent on the poem/nursery rhyme material....She has a beautiful voice, I just like her older stuff better than the new...

She was perfection. The band was wonderful and the music entertaining. The venue could not have been lovelier.

amazing amazing amazing!! natalie merchant was simply exuding power and energy! her voice was even more beautiful and clear and strong than i could have ever wished for!! what an amazing experience to be in her presence and feel her energy during her performance, both vocally and physically....to see her feeling the music in such beautiful dance and movement made the show. her in-depth presentation of the origins of the music from her new album was both beautiful and fascinating. and her supporting band was amazing as well! this concert was everything you want in a show...pure artistry. thank you, natalie!

Natalie had a great sense of humor and is fun to watch but her new venture of transferring old children's poems into song was painful and way too long. The only reason I upgraded the concert to a two star was the encore - which was about six of her old hits. That's what music we like. I did agree with Natalie that the constant movement of the crowd during the concert was distracting and we had a bunch of ladies in front of us who knitted, used their phones, and chatted with each other the entire time.

Stunning !!!!! Can't say more than that. A must see and hear !!

Natalie, what can I say, the best encore I've seen, putting poems to music, brilliant!

What a wonderful summer evening...great venue and incredible artist!

The concert was fantastic. She came right out with no warm up group and went for 2.5 hrs. Her chatter with the audience was witty and warm. The singing was simply great. This is one of the best concerts of this type I have witnessed. I would definitely go again.

Lame! I guess Ms. Merchant hasn't performed in front of a live audience in a while. During her presentation she was constantly distracted by the outdoor audience and Chateau’s ambiance. She chided one attendee, “Thanks for showing up late. You’ve already missed 3 songs”. And she commented on diner selections, “Mmm, corn on the cob. That’s a healthy choice.” At one point she stopped her singing to watch aircrafts taxing to land at SeaTac. The slow dirge-like ditties with lyrics lifted from long-forgotten poems, fell flat on the winery crowd, lulling many into side chit-chat as we waited an hour-and-a-half for a recognizable song. Finally during an encore, as promised, Ms. Merchant rattled off a few popular melodies, but with little enthusiasm. For her next performance, she may want to take her antiquated slide show to a UW Bothell Lecture Hall – for free.

Natalie Merchant with her wonderful lilting vocals hypnotized the crowd at Cte. St Michelle last night. Her gig started early with no starter band which makes for a lovely early evening. The promoters would have done a service to Ms Merchant by informing concertgoers of this fact so that not so many people would have missed the first songs and interferred with their seat mates with their late arrivals. The ushers were unprofessional and literally screaming over the music instead of discreetly and succinctly directing people to their seats. Her first songs were an education in early poets and she threatened to give a quiz . Many of the first set songs were delightful. She ended the first set and strolled off stage only to return for another set of her old hits which richly capped the night and made us all happy and singy. She seemed sincerely joyous, full of the music and she undulated with rhythm. Thank you for Natalie Heaven.

Natalie was near perfect. The explanation of her latest effort was brilliant - I am now more interested in the works for what they mean not just how they sound. Natalie being the sweet person she is played something like 6 encore songs that were absolutely AWESOME! Natalie was distracted by the people milling around to get food and wine which distracted her. She worked the crowd beautifully while giving the rest of the audience a look at her more humorous and may I say sarcastic side. I loved it! Funny, Entertaining, Thoughtful and Real. I just wish people would sit down more and if they must get up try to only use the edge walkways not just the most direct walkway. Waling in front of people is distracting. The casual atmosphere was lovely but some people seemed to think it was their own back yard. Overall, i would go again and I will recommend it to anybody who is a Natalie fan.

I have seen Natalie in the past and have never seen such interaction with the audience before. Her keen sense of humor shined. I appreciated the history lessons given throughout the show regarding each poem writer and story teller that her songs were based off of. After the show, she came back to sing about five additional songs that were from "the days of old", even her 10,000 Maniacs days.

It's tough to say anything bad about sitting on the lawn with a bottle of wine on a nice summer evening at the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery. However, I found myself enjoying the conversation with my friends more than the Natalie Merchant concert. She started off strong with a few solo and 10,000 Maniacs songs. However, the next hour and a half was material exclusively from her new album "Leave Your Sleep" accompanied by slides. Boring! I think 30-45 minutes of this would have sufficed. Natalie did get into her "minor hits" (her words) during the encore which pleased me and the other fans but it seemed like a long time to get there.