Pop : For Vega, Less Austere Is More

In her salad days, Suzanne Vega used to begin shows a cappella with “Tom’s Diner,” her way of making a distracted audience hush up. Nowadays, Vega doesn’t want for rapt, worshipful attention, so the folk-rock singer can save that number for the climax of her show, as she did Friday night at the Wiltern Theatre.

Vega no longer needs to impress her austerity upon us. This tour, more fun than previous outings, broadly hints at the show woman within. Vega brought an expanded stage set--with surreal slides to match the dissociation of “Book of Dreams,” or film noir lighting to suggest the shuttered “Room Off the Street.” Her backing band broods less and rocks out more--especially new drummer Frank Vilardi, whose backbeat gave many of the songs a kick in the pants. No longer immobile, Vega even wanders about the stage a bit.

These were all good signs that the would-be icewoman warmeth. The lonesome distance inherent in much of the material remains, uniquely Buddhist and uniquely her, but Vega also came off as more down to earth than before, with a penchant for show and amusing anecdotes to complement her more storyteller-ish songs. Truly, she’s the missing link between James Taylor and Laurie Anderson.