Suzanne Vega & Gerry Leonard - Live Theaterfabrik
Leipzig, Germany
January 24, 2014
FM Source @320
In pop-music circles, Suzanne Vega is known almost entirely for two songs from the late 1980s: the child-abuse ballad "Luka" and a song that launched literally dozens of dance remixes, "Tom's Diner." But Vega has been making vital, inventive music the entire time — much of it folk-based, though her sound has taken many smart detours along the way — and is about to put out her first album of original material in seven years, Tales From the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles.
Performed with her brilliant guitarist and producer, Gerry Leonard — Vega splits the difference evenly between old and new — aided greatly by Leonard, who's worked extensively with David Bowie and lends these songs an extraordinary amount of color and texture.
Vega's songwriting gifts haven't waned at any point in her long career, and the new songs here — taken from a concept album about the way our world and the spiritual realm intersect — sound as sharp as anything she's done. It only makes sense that, nearly 30 years after her debut, she still examines new realms with grace, empathy and an explorer's spirit.
--STEPHEN THOMPSON
Set List:
01. Marlene On The Wall
02. Caramel
03. Fool's Complaint
04. Crack In The Wall
05. Jacob And The Angel
06. Left Of Center
07. Small Blue Thing
08. The Queen & The Soldier
09. Song Of The Stoic
10. Laying On Of Hands
11. I Never Wear White
12. Don't Uncork What You Can't Contain
13. Luka
14. Tom's Diner
15. Horizon (There Is A Road)
16. Rosemary (Remember Me)
17. You Come From Far Away
