It was nearly 19 years ago when I last saw Natalie Merchant perform live. She was then the strong-voiced and charismatic singer of 10,000 Maniacs who was a bit quirky if not a little cold. After nearly two decades of success, including Maniacs charting singles, and a solo career that eclipsed her prior band, Natalie stopped touring and had a child.
Her announcement of six New York City dates — her first NYC concerts in 4 years — at the intimate Hiro Ballroom were a pleasant surprise, if not a complete shock. 2008 finds Natalie’s voice and charisma as strong and sharp as ever, but the years have added stage comfort, wit, and charming storytelling abilities that were a true pleasure to behold. Natalie’s interaction with the crowd throughout the night was warm and playful. Tuesday night’s show, at a Springsteen-like 2 hours and 20 minutes long, featured a series of new numbers from a pair of upcoming releases, including original adaptations of children’s poetry, along with the solo career standards.
This recording has been removed from the site at the request of the artist. nyctaper respects the artists wishes. Please do not email the site about this recording, it is not available.
Natalie Merchant
2008-01-08
Hiro Ballroom
New York, NY USA
Setlist:
[total time 2:16:54]
01 Carnival
02 Build a Levee
03 Break Your Heart
04 Too Long At The Fair
05 Shakespeare’s 73rd Sonnet
06 Equestrienne
07 The Janitor’s Boy
08 If No one Marries Me
09 The Man In The Wilderness
10 Texas
11 Life is Sweet
12 Wonder
13 Golden Boy
14 Go Down Moses
15 Giving Up Everything
16 The End
17 [encore break]
18 Village Green Preservation Society
19 Sweet Lady Genevieve (partial – Natalie acappella)
20 Tell Yourself
21 I Need Love
22 Kind & Generous
23 [second encore break]
24 Which Side are You On?
25 Butterfly Song
26 I’m Not Gonna Beg
Despite the removal of this recording, nyctaper encourages our readers to PLEASE SUPPORT Natalie Merchant and visit her website.
How fast was that taken down??? I’m going tomorrow night and was highly looking forward to a appetizer/mp3 keepsake to help my sleep patterns……
she has an amazing voice, I saw her way back then as well and about 10 years ago I think it was.
What a major bummer!
Can you tell us the setlist at least?
Natalie Merchant
2008-01-08
Hiro Ballroom
New York, NY USA
Setlist:
[total time 2:16:54]
01 Carnival
02 Build a Levee
03 Break Your Heart
04 Too Long At The Fair
05 Shakespeare’s 73rd Sonnet
06 Equestrienne
07 The Janitor’s Boy
08 If No one Marries Me
09 The Man In The Wilderness
10 Texas
11 Life is Sweet
12 Wonder
13 Golden Boy
14 Go Down Moses
15 Giving Up Everything
16 The End
17 [encore break]
18 Village Green Preservation Society
19 Sweet Lady Genevieve (partial – Natalie acappella)
20 Tell Yourself
21 I Need Love
22 Kind & Generous
23 [second encore break]
24 Which Side are You On?
25 Butterfly Song
26 I’m Not Gonna Beg
your efforts are appreciated, none the less. it seems this recording has become an unfortunate situation for you. for that, i am sorry.
i wish you the best and look forward to more….authorized recordings.
sorry… but that sucks… this is the best way for artists to spread their music, especially when not all of them offer their live shows thru official channels(ie pearl jam, govt mule). hell, if u2 has a friendly taper policy i guess natalie must be a brighter star than them.
funny that my wife wanted to see her but i didn’t even know who see was. figured u might tape it and i’d give her a copy. apparently my wife was (is) a big 10,000 maniacs fan… i never even heard of them until a month or so ago when she tried to get me to go with her. anyway, you do great work with this site and your recordings… please keep up the good work.
Darn… sorry for what happened. This is the first time I’ve seen that her people actively went after someone.
Natalie… shame on you. Does anyone really care for her solo stuff anyways?!?
NYCTaper… she should only be honored to have you record one of her shows. Your bootlegs are beautiful. Keep up the good work.
I love Natallie.
Thanks for your efforts nyctaper; sorry for your headaches…
I really must clarify and say that Natalie’s people have been extremely professional about this whole affair. There are very good reasons for their request which may become more obvious in the future.
The only people who gave me grief were some fans in the forum who misconstrued the nature of this site.
….Like I said somewhere else, your are truly appreciated for what you do, thanks again!
Hey…sorry about the rudeness of some members of the NMMB…(don’t let that be a reflection on all of us) most of those that were giving you grief have gotten bootlegs from me on more than one occasion…some were even asking me about the Hiro shows while the whole ‘debate’ was in progress. The rest are just newer members and wanted to fit in or something. Anyway, I appreciate your efforts more than you’ll know. Don’t be a stranger.
Was there on the 8th first time I’d seen her since orlando show in 89. swish shwe would play more. would love a copy of the show