Suzanne Vega is one of those artists whose standards have never dropped.

The native New Yorker’s tours of the UK have been rather infrequent and, somehow or other, I always managed to miss out – until her performance at Liverpool’s iconic Philharmonic Hall this time round. And, even then, I was lucky to pick up the last two tickets in the stalls, despite applying on the day of release.

This is testament to just how good she is and a packed out ‘Phil was fired up and ready.

The support act was Katherine Priddy – a singer/songwriter from Birmingham who I’ve been following for a couple of years now.

Backed by guitarist George Boomsma, whose laconic style and harmonious backing vocals were a treat – her lilting half-hour set was very well received.

If you saw her singing ‘A Boat On The River’ on Jools Holland’s ‘Later’ earlier this year, like me, you would have been blown away by both the song and a magical performance – if you missed it, check it out on YouTube.

She also played ‘Matches’ from her new album (out early next year), and if the rest of the album matches (see what I did there?) the quality of this – it should be exceptional.

And if you needed any more evidence of how good she was, the queue at her merch stall for a meet-and-greet was a good 50 to 60 yards long.

So the crowd was already buzzing when Suzanne Vega took the stage accompanied by long-time guitarist Gerry Leonard (who, despite his age looks like a young Rod Stewart) – to roars of approval.

As the famous top hat came out, everyone knew ‘Marlene On The Wall’ was the opening number and a great rendition introduced a set packed full of what are now becoming iconic songs.

Also mixed in were tracks from her latest album ‘Flying With Angels’ and, as if to prove my opening statement, they fitted seamlessly into the set, being appreciated just as much as the classic material.

So, well-known songs such as ‘Marlene’, ‘Caramel’ ‘Small Blue Thing’, ‘Some Journey’, and the inevitable ‘Luka’ blended beautifully with songs such as ‘Flying With Angels’, ‘Speaker’s Corner’ and ‘Chambermaid’.

She’s got excellent between-song banter and this, coupled with a fund of stories about the songs and reciprocation from the audience (which you always get with a Liverpool crowd), made for an outstanding show.

Highlights (although it’s like trying to pick your favourite child) for me anyway were, given where we were, ‘In Liverpool’, plus ‘Gypsy’, ‘The Queen And The Soldier’ (could she still carry that ooh, ooh, ooh, – of course she could), and set-closer ‘Tom’s Diner’.

Suzanne was joined on a good number of tracks by Stephanie Winters, whose exquisite cello playing rounded out the sound beautifully.

Apparently, someone had asked her to play ‘Blood Makes Noise’ as it was her grandfather’s favourite song (???) so this replaced her usual encore rendition of Lou Reed’s ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ which was a little disappointing.

Overall though, it was a fabulous show, with an artist still at the top of her game after 40 years of doing this and a support act most deservedly on the up.

Review by Alan Jones

Setlist: Marlene On The Wall, 99.9 F, Caramel, Small Blue Thing, Gypsy, In Liverpool, The Queen And The Soldier, Flying With Angels, Speaker’s Corner, Chambermaid, Left Of Centre, I Never Wear White, Some Journey, Luka, Tom’s Diner.

Encore: Alley, Blood Makes Noise, Galway

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