^{Cover Image: Suzanne Vega is touring AU & NZ with her Flying With Angels Tour. Photography by Ebru Yildiz}

Suzanne Vega likes a story to come full circle. Emerging in her signature top hat and launching straight into first-ever single Marlene on the Wall last Saturday, she would then remove the hat for most of the show, only to put it back on at the close of the night for another mega-hit, Tom’s Diner.

^{Vega in signature top hat. Photography by Alan Holbrook.}

In a sense it’s a perfect foil for the way many of these 80s and 90s hits are repurposed live today by Vega, the glitzy sound of her heyday (Left of Centre was famously featured on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack in 1986) transformed into something more uniform across the set. Once again performing alongside former David Bowie musical director Gerry Leonard (and also joined on this tour by cellist Stephanie Winters), the intimate performances with no drummer, bassist or fancy lighting rig, see her eras across more than 40 years blend seamlessly.

And that’s clearly important to an artist who is there to put on a cohesive show, not just play her biggest songs. Take the night’s peak on Some Journey and Luka back-to-back, where two of her best-loved tunes were repurposed but neither lost any of their urgency. Admittedly, I missed the fiddle solo on the former and wondered whether perhaps the cello could’ve gone wildly off-piste in the finale instead, but the intense drama of Leonard’s playing was a force of nature in itself. Likewise, Luka‘s just-as-relevant-now ode to a domestic violence victim benefitted from a more ragged new arrangement, the music now matching the powerful lyrics.

Earlier she had the crowd transfixed with the story behind 1986 single Gypsy, which reportedly followed a rather torrid six-week affair in her 20s inspired by Leonard Cohen (she still has the bandanna to prove it, apparently). But in true Suzanne Vega style she returned to this memorable touchstone in the encore, bringing the show full circle once and for all. Between a couple of unexpected finale highlights in Lou Reed cover Walk on the Wild Side and 90s semi-industrial banger Blood Makes Noise (“are you ready for Gerry to melt your face off?” Vega asked before Leonard did just that), she played In Liverpool and noted it was a sequel to Gypsy. Somewhat profoundly, the protagonist had recognised himself in the words after attending a concert there many years later, which in turn led to their reconvening (alas, not romantically).

It was touching to finish the night knowing that all these years later, just like us, this recurring character in Vega’s songs is also still a fan.