Quite the contrary in fact. Deliberately downplaying the soaring expectations surrounding her solo career, the charismatic Merchant isn't making a big deal out of her "Debutante" tour. Instead, she's playing a handful of small venues, warming up with a new band before heading into the studio to begin recording her first solo album in December.
The eight-city tour stopped at Amherst College Saturday, where Merchant played to a sellout crowd of approximately 600 fans at the college's Alumni Gym. It was a rare treat, especially considering that the Maniacs drew 14,000 to Great Woods during their last trip through New England in the summer of '93. This was vastly different, a decidedly informal evening, with Merchant trying out a host of new songs for the faithful. All the while she nursed a bad cold that had her down but far from out.
On stage for two hours, Merchant avoided Maniacs' material until her encores, opting instead for new songs and a few intriguing covers. Ably backed by Jennifer Turner on guitar, Barry McGuire on bass and Peter Yanowitz on drums, she moved through several ethereal, melodic, pop-based tracks, not drastically different from the direction in which she seemed to be taking her old band before her departure.
If there's any drawback to the new format it's that Merchant, whose swirling, whirling stage moves proved mesmerizing with 10,000 Maniacs, seemed held back behind keyboards with the new band. She stepped out only on occasion, most notably during a spunky and soulful Baby I Love You, in which she traded verses with Turner and opening act Katell Keineg.
She talked easily with the crowd between songs, about everything from writers and children's television shows to the new power brokers in Washington. A card carrying liberal who played at Bill Clinton's inauguration, Merchant used a graphic expletive in a pointed reference to Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, and in particular, New York's Alfonse D'Amato.
Merchant emerged without her band for most of her encore, which included snippets of the Maniacs' Maddox Table and Eat For Two, (she stopped the latter when she forgot the chords), as well as How You've Grown, a very strong Noah's Dove, and These Are Days.
Yet the highlight of the encores was a gloriously loose version of Joni Mitchell's All I Want, from her Blue album. Struggling to hit some of the high notes, Merchant let some of her band members take verses, as well as two members of the crowd she had invited on stage to sing with her.
Seen in the back of the hall was Merchant's new manager, Jon Landau, who's also been the guiding light behind Bruce Springsteen's career for nearly 20 years. Landau said the brief tour is helping Merchant get a feel for how she'll approach the recording in the studio. Based on the show Saturday, the album's already filled with potential.
Keineg's set was primarily culled from her album. O Seasons O Castles, which Merchant later called her favorite album of the past year. Highlights included Franklin and Hestia.