Tift Merritt in Paris, February 8th 2011

TIFT MERRITT played after a three-year absence in the city she fell in love with many years ago. Indeed, Paris is where Tift wrote her third album, Another Country, which marked a change of artistical direction with a more personal songwriting style. Tift continued on this path with her latest opus, See you on the moon. Unmistakenly, we were about to hear mostly songs from these two cds.

This is a beautifully dressed Tift Merritt who took stage first as part of the Fargo All stars night at the Flèche D'or which also featured Dolorean and Deer Tick. She was alone on stage with her guitar and began singing All the reasons we don't have to fight. Her amazing voice instantly captivated the audience who almost didn't whisper a word during the songs the rest of the way. Tift Merritt followed with maybe the two best tracks from her latest album. First, she kicked in Engine to turn, singing with all her heart and showing a lot of passion. Feel of the world is very intense, even during an acoustic rendition without the lead guitar solos which originally give the particular edge to the song but in this case, Tift did it all by herself (and Little Red, Tift's guitar).

Most of the people probably didn't know much about Tift but she immediately endeared herself by speaking in a very good French. In fact, you can feel such a good vibe in this artist, genuine, talented and giving every bit of herself despite being very tired after taking the train from Hamburg at a "not very rock n' roll hour". This is even more obvious when she sings the cornerstone song, Good-hearted man on the piano which featured some good ol' foot-stomping. Tift then sang Another Country which she dedicated to the friends who took care of her during the period she wrote Another Country the album. During the last song of her set See you on the moon, Tift Merritt stepped to the front of the stage and sang without the microphone, which earned her a loud ovation.

There is something irresistible in Tift's voice, something almost undefinable that you can only experience on live shows. Once again, Tift proved that she had one of the most evocative voices yet so underrated. If not on the moon, Paris was the good place to hear Tift.

Setlist

All the reasons we don't have to fight

Engine to turn

Feel of the world

Good hearted man

Another country

The things that everybody does

Something to me

See on the moon