Merle Haggard/ Star Tribune file photo by Marlin Levison

It was a rare treat to see both Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson in concert in the same week in the Twin Cities.

The fan in me was thrilled and the critic in me weighed in on the various nuances, as you can read in my review of Hag.

By the by, I saw that Haggard played 26 songs and 100 minutes at a show in May in Montreal. We got 19 numbers and 83 minutes. C'est la vie.

Here is what Merle and the Strangers played Friday at the State Theatre in Minneapolis: Big City/ Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/ Silver Wings/ I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink/ Going Where the Lonely Go/ That's the Way Love Goes/ Blue Yodel No. 7 / It's Been a Great Afternoon /If I Could Only Fly/ Sing Me Back Home/ Workin' Man Blues/ Fightin Side of Me/ Pancho & Lefty/ Milk Cow Blues/ Working In Tennessee/ Old Fashioned Love / Mama Tried/ The Fugitive/ Okie from Muskogee