Last weekend Colleen and I headed back over to the Cedar to see Suzanne Vega in concert. We thought I had seen her once before at the O’Shaughnessy, but if I did, it must’ve been pre-blog days.

Opener Ari Hest was talented and fun (plus very tall and easy to see). This was a seated general admission show, but they offered “premium” center section seats for an extra $15/ticket (which we did). That section was sold out, so I wanted to get there early so we could get decent seats (fourth row).

I picked up her new album Tales From the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles, but hadn’t had much of a chance to listen before the show. She did a number of new songs, including, Crack in the Wall, I Never Wear White and Don’t Uncork What You Can’t Contain. Lots of fun older songs too, including Marlene On The Wall, Small Blue Thing and The Queen And The Soldier from her very first album (the last song being one of my all-time favorites).

Didn’t get a chance to see the set list anywhere, but I remember she sang Caramel and finished the set with Luka and Tom’s Diner, with Calypso opening the encore. I know people always expect Luka, but it’s such a sad song and one I really no longer want to hear. Aside from that, I had a smile on my face the entire rest of the show.

Vega, 54, mentioned that her mom is from Minnesota and sent at least ten cousins to be on the guest list. She was very talkative all night, telling fun stories about almost every song. She was accompanied on guitar by Irish artist Gerry Leonard, who has worked extensively with David Bowie and used the very cool EBow on several songs.

Up next: Dan Wilson, also at the Cedar