It’s the weekend of introspective singer-songwriters, a breed that you’d think would interact more directly with their audience, but that’s not always the case. However, Suzanne Vega, who hasn’t a bona fide hit in years, was more than gracious during her hour-long late afternoon set at the Field of Heaven. Commiserating with the crowd over the rain, which was still falling when she took the stage, she actually apologized and added, “but it can’t be helped.” How Japanese! Working without a band, only her guitarist Jerry Leonard, she was loose and free and quite talkative. And in a jaunty mood. For her first song, “My Destiny,” she wore a top hat for no revealed reason, though I imagine she simply wanted to tip it at the audience at the end of the song, which she did. Nice touch.

She also did something that most singer-songwriters are loath to do but which is very important when you’re playing your material for people whose first language is something else: she explained them briefly and humorously. She described “Frank and Ava,” a song about the marriage and divorce of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner, in a succinct manner, and was quick to add, “And it’s all in one song!” Explaining a new song, “I Don’t Wear White,” she said it’s about her, “and I don’t wear white.” As anyone who has seen Vega in more than one picture, they know she wears only black. Not much mystery there, but you could tell the listeners appreciated the attention, which they paid back amply with a very warm response.

In fact, halfway through the show the rain stopped, as if the commiseration worked. Vega wasn’t exactly aware and actually asked the crowd if the rain was still bothering them. One sympathetic soul raised a big thumb’s up and she returned it with a smile, but I have a feeling he was not commenting on the weather but on her music. -Phil