Your must-see shows to hit the stage this week
Local favorite Tift Merritt has a sizable show Saturday at Raleigh’s North Carolina Museum of Art, but it won’t be the first time she has played there this summer. On July 10 – a Monday, when the museum is closed – Merritt and her steel-guitar accompanist Eric Heywood set up in the cafe area of the museum’s West Building to perform a few songs for the cameras, with artist Patrick Dougherty’s vivid “Out of the Box” stick sculpture as backdrop.
The video was shot as the next installment of “Sawyer Sessions,” a live-performance video series done through Merritt’s label Yep Roc Records. The title track to her current album “Stitch of the World” can be seen at newsobserver.com.
Meanwhile, Merritt’s Aug. 19 show at the NCMA’s outdoor amphitheater will feature a solid cast of guests, peers and friends, including MC Taylor from Hiss Golden Messenger, Eric Slick of Dr. Dog and others.
Doors open at 6 p.m. The show starts at 7 p.m. The event also features food trucks, a pop-up shop featuring Raleigh Denim Workshop and Raleigh Vintage and Butch Anthony’s Traveling Museum of Wonder.
Tickets are available at ncartmuseum.org or by calling the box office at 919-715-5923. They’re $39 for reserved seats ($34 for museum members) and $29 general admission ($24 for members). Children 6 years and younger are admitted free.
The Spin Doctors
The Spin Doctors, with hits “Two Princes” and “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong,” will headline the sixth annual Packapalooza Saturday, Aug. 19. The free event is 2 to 10 p.m. and includes family activities, crafts and other events to celebrate the return of the N.C. State school year.
The Spin Doctors are set to hit the Belltower Stage at 8:45 p.m. and will be followed by a Belltower lighting and fireworks.
In addition to the concert, visitors will find athletes and coaches singing autographs in the Wolfpack Zone; international crafts and arts in the International Zone; and an Arts Zone.
For a full schedule, go to https://packapalooza.ncsu.edu/.
Luke Bryan
Country singer Luke Bryan, known for his high-energy shows, is coming to the Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek Saturday, Aug. 19, at 7 p.m.
Brett Eldredge is the opening act. Bryan has recorded seven No. 1 songs on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and has been nominated for and won several awards. That includes nabbing the CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year in 2016.
Tickets start at $53 for lawn seats through LiveNation.com.
Goo Goo Dolls & Phillip Phillips
While the Counting Crows and Matchbox Twenty hit Walnut Creek Tuesday, their mid-’90s peers, The Goo Goo Dolls, also are still rocking. They’ll be at Red Hat Amphitheater Wednesday, Aug. 23, with “American Idol” winner Phillip Phillips, who happens to have just released his first single, “Miles.”
As for the Goo Goo Dolls, the steadily touring band is sure to perform hits like “Slide,” “Name” and “Iris.”
The show is at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $28.58 to $182. Go to redhatamphitheater.com.
David Olney
David Olney has traveled many a’mile since his college days in Chapel Hill. First to Atlanta then Nashville, Tenn., where he’s made his mark as one of the most creative songwriters and performers Music City has ever hosted. He rocked hard with his legendary band, The X-Rays.
As a solo artist, Olney has some 20 albums to his credit. His songs, recorded by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Johnny Cash, look at life’s Everyman situations from uncommon perspectives.
On Saturday, David Olney brings his songs and humor to The Cary Theater for a show sponsored by Six String productions.
The show is at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 to $25. For information, go to thecarytheater.com
Theater
Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved 1911 novel, “The Secret Garden,” was the basis for the popular 1991 musical, which Theatre Raleigh stages this week in Fletcher Opera Theater. Broadway veteran Michael Halling stars as the grieving widower Archibald and Wake Forest resident Skyla Woodard plays young Mary Lennox.
The show is at 7 p.m. Aug. 15-17; 8 p.m. Aug. 18-20; 2 p.m. Aug. 19-20.
Tickets are $25-$45. 919-832- 9997 or theatreraleigh.com.
▪ ARClitE presents the premiere of Steven R. Bond’s “Conversations with Hitler,” an exploration of the harsh realities of prison life, staged at Raleigh’s Sonorous Road Theatre. Details at arclite.org/lit.
Jessica Banov, Jack Bernhardt and Roy C. Dicks contributed.
This story was originally published August 18, 2017 at 8:15 AM with the headline "Your must-see shows to hit the stage this week."