Still haven't gotten over seeing Suzanne Vega

Cafe Society
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A week ago my wife and I went to a church in Montclair, NJ to see Suzanne Vega, and I still haven’t gotten over it. Real goosebumps.

Yep, it was an actual church, the First Congregational Church, to be specific. The stage was right up between the lectern and the pulpit. All that stone provided amazing acoustics. Seems an organization called The Outpost in the Burbs uses the space regularly for a folk series.

This actually provided one of the more amusing (to me) parts of the night. Suzanne got her start playing folkish music in Greenwich Village coffeshops. Most of the audience was 40+ folkies who came to see that Suzanne. They were quite perplexed when the set list included 99.9F and Blood Makes Noise.

The set list was mostly from her new “Best of” album called Retrospective. Not entirely, though. Some were in the set list that aren’t on the album and vice versa, and the order was very different.

This was the first stop on a new tour, so she was very open and playful with the audience. I have owned Solitude Standing and Songs in Red and Gray, but I was really surprised and impressed by how the songs were interpreted in concert. Example: Luka has always vaguely creeped me out on the radio or CD. In concert, I was downright ready to flee the building. Other songs gained similar emotional power. Gypsy brought tears to my eyes.

Anyway, I’m sure this is heading quickly down the forum lists, but I just wanted to brain dump.

This is pretty mundane and pointless, but since it’s arts, I didn’t know where a wandering modster would place it

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Well, I’m intrigued. I wish that my church would have rock concerts. I’d go more often. :slight_smile: Dumb question: was her concert a religios thing, or were they just using the building?

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[hijack] It’s not uncommon for the local Unitarian Universalist church to host small concerts, especially by folk, semi-folk, or semi-religious artists. (Lots of Buddhist and Pagan folkies play there, for instance.) [/hijack]

Eee. I don’t think I’d want to hear “Luka” done live; I’d be creeped out of existence. “Solitude Standing,” on the other hand . . . I think I might have to be jealous. :wink:

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No, xanadu, not a specifically religious event. Although the group that organized the series uses the funds raised at their concerts to pursue a social service agenda (soup kitchens, Habitat for Humanity, etc.), the church was just the performance space.

She did tell an interesting story. Evidently her agent in Italy liked to book her in “romantic” settings, like Catholic cathedrals. She was doing the sound check in one when the nuns came filing in for evening Mass. The looks and the setting inspired the song Penitent. Felt very appropos that night.

And, Omorka, feel free to be jealous. Solitude Standing literally sent chills up my spine.