Suzanne Vega returns to Marblehead....virtually

After last year's sold-out show at the me&thee, Suzanne Vega makes a return trip to Marblehead's me&thee, albeit virtually. In celebration of her just-released career-spanning album, An Evening of New York Songs and Stories, Suzanne Vega will play a livestreamed show on Wednesday, October 7 at 9:00 p.m. (EST) from New York City's iconic Blue Note Jazz Club in Greenwich Village. The me&thee is partnering with Suzanne to present the show with a special link for our local patrons as a gesture of support for the independent live music industry, currently facing the existential threat of the ongoing COVID-crisis. The full-band set will feature the album's New York-centric repertoire, honoring Vega's long musical relationship with her hometown. She will be joined on the Blue Note stage by longtime guitarist Gerry Leonard, bassist Jeff Allen and keyboardist, Jason Hart.

Suzanne Vega is regarded as one of the foremost songwriters of her generation. “I recorded these songs at the Café Carlyle in New York City,” Vega says of the new album. “It’s a small, exclusive club that has hosted legends from Eartha Kitt to Judy Collins, and is also known to be the place where Jackie Kennedy met Audrey Hepburn. I love it for its bohemian old-world glamour! I included songs that were inspired by New York City or for which New York provided the backdrop, including “Walk on the Wild Side” by my late, great friend, Lou Reed—a song I rarely heard him sing himself.” The album produced by Gerry Leonard was recorded in early 2019 and includes familiar songs like “Luka” and “Tom’s Diner” and deep cuts from Vega’s catalog including “Frank and Ava” and “Ludlow Street.” The mix of repertoire also features “New York Is My Destination” from Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers, Vega’s 2016 album from her one-woman play about the Southern gothic novelist Carson McCullers.

Vega emerged as a leading figure of the folk-music revival of the early 1980s when, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, she sang what has been called contemporary folk or neo-folk songs of her own creation in Greenwich Village clubs. Since the release of her self-titled, critically acclaimed 1985 debut album, she has given sold-out concerts in many of the world’s best-known venues. Known for performances that convey deep emotion, Vega’s distinctive, “clear, unwavering voice” (Rolling Stone) has been described as “a cool, dry sandpaper-brushed near-whisper” by The Washington Post, with NPR Music noting that she “has been making vital, inventive music” throughout the course of her decades-long career.

Bearing the stamp of a masterful storyteller who “observes the world with a clinically poetic eye” (The New York Times), Vega’s songs have tended to focus on city life, ordinary people and real-world subjects. Notably succinct and understated, her work is immediately recognizable—as utterly distinct and thoughtful as it was when her voice was first heard on the radio over 30 years ago. Recently Vega was a member of the cast of the Off-Broadway production of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. The New York Times said of her performance, “As our polymorphic host, the brandy-voiced Vega…is a delightful, smoothly sardonic presence…a discreetly entertaining font of omniscience.”

Tickets for this special virtual Suzanne Vega show on Wednesday, October 7 at 9:00 pm. are $20 plus a service charge. You can purchase tickets here.

Ticket sales and the live stream will take place on Seated. Fans will be able to access their live stream link from their order confirmation email and will also receive a reminder 15 minutes before the stream begins. If the fan cannot the live stream at the specified time, they can rewatch the archived stream on the same link for up to 72 hours. Fan scan pay by with a credit card, debit card, or prepaid gift card. The Seat team handles all customer support before, during and after the stream.
The me & thee is one of the oldest continually running acoustic listening rooms in New England, and probably the country. It has been and will always be a volunteer, non-profit organization sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead.