There’s something to be said for a rock concert in a large venue: the loud guitars, the booming bass, the thunderous drums, the “Hello, Cleveland!” There’s a lot of energy, a lot of noise, a lot of sweat. And I love that, most of the time.

But I also love a small, intimate show. I love sitting down at a table, ordering food and a drink, and being able to talk to whoever I’m there with in a normal speaking voice. A Vienna Teng show is the latter. Just as it takes a lot of confidence and charisma to front a raucous band, it takes just as much to sit alone behind a keyboard.

Vienna Teng performed at Jammin Java in Vienna, Virginia, on April 21 to a packed house. (Yes, artist and town both are named Vienna!) Vienna stepped on stage, sat behind her keyboard, and began to explain how her shows usually work. There are two sets separated by an intermission. She does not work with a setlist. Rather, she asks the audience what they would like to hear and the audience calls out their favorites. 

In between every song, Vienna told stories; stories about her music and inspirations, stories about fans, stories about leaving music and going into management consulting (or management insulting, as she liked to say), and stories about her family.

She told the story of how one fan, who was estranged from his mother, sent her song “City Hall,” which was the beginning of their reconciliation.

Vienna revealed that her song “The Hymn Of Acxiom” (my personal favorite) is a love song from the point of view of a marketing database.

Watch Vienna Teng perform “The Hymn of Acxiom” in 2013 live on YouTube:

Vienna’s humor surfaced in a story about her toddler. The story begins with the confession that her child is NOT her biggest fan. In fact, when Vienna plays her music for her, she is told to turn it off. She also sings lullabies to her daughter each evening. The only problem is, her daughter always requests The Beatles or “What Does The Fox Say” by Ylvis. “Do you know how hard it is to sing an ASMR version of ‘What Does The Fox Say?’” She mentioned that she may have to work the song into her set someday.

She then performed the song “Level Up.” After the song, an audience member called out “It’s in G flat!”

“What’s in G flat?”

“What ‘Does The Fox Say?’ It’s G flat”

“G flat major or minor?”

“I don’t know!”

At this point, Vienna burst into the first verse of “What Does The Fox Say” — and the audience ate it up!

The first set wrapped up with a new song, “We Got You.” It was Vienna’s first foray into what she calls “a mash-up”. She played the first part of the song at the end of the first set.

She played the second part of the song to open the second set. Then she combined the two into the mash-up.

One of my favorite stories came during the second set when Vienna told the story of the time she was double booked with a Chamber of Commerce Awards ceremony. The venue’s solution was to ask Vienna to play the ceremony’s reception. They promised she could play whatever she wanted! A little later on in the set, an audience member tried to book her for a wedding. I think Vienna may be considering it.

The second set wrapped with Vienna causing a bit of a stir with the crowd as well as the staff of Jammin’ Java when she invited anyone who wanted to sing, up to the stage to form an impromptu chorus. About 20 to 25 audience members walked up on stage, where they were instructed on how and what to sing, depending on how adventurous they were feeling.

There is a time for rocking out, but sometimes you just want a nice, relaxing evening out, listening to great stories. That’s the kind of evening you get when you see Vienna Teng.

Setlist:

Harbor
Gravity
The Hymn Of Acxiom
The Lost Word’s Blessing
City Hall
Anna Rose
Level Up
What Does The Fox Say (Ylvis cover)
Whatever You Want
Whispering Light (Jesca Hoop cover)

We’ve Got You (Mash Up, Pt. 1)

-intermission-

Rise Up (Mash Up, Pt. 2)
We’ve Got You/Rise Up (Combined)
In Another Life
Goodnight New York
Landsailor
Stray Italian Greyhound
Unwritten Letter #1
Lullaby For A Stormy Night
Fly Away Love
Soon Love Soon (with audience choir)

Here are some more photos of Vienna Teng performing at Jammin’ Java on April 21, 2023. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Marc Shea.