Lisa Loeb, Suzanne Vega rock Three Rivers Arts Festival despite the weather

The longstanding Three Rivers Arts Festival always attracts top-tier musical talent, and another year is in the books after this weekend. That being said, next year’s festival organizers might consider some kind of prayer circle or ritual to appease whatever weather god cursed this event long ago.

As is tradition, this year’s festival was a rainy one — its final day on Sunday in the Strip District included. In fact, Sunday evening’s live music was postponed by half an hour to avoid the inclement weather. A few raindrops did make an unwelcome guest appearance during Lisa Loeb’s set, but otherwise, the headlining acts’ sets went off without a hitch.

This year’s headliners were a delight for the Lilith Fair crowd. Both Loeb and Suzanne Vega played all three years of the touring women’s music festival in the late 1990s. And both ladies are in the same great form they were 30 years ago.

Loeb is best known for her 1994 hit “Stay (I Missed You),” one of the most Gen-X songs ever made and a staple of the soundtrack from the film “Reality Bites” (the song is better than the movie, but that’s just one person’s opinion).

But Loeb has a deep catalog of songs for both children and adults, including those on 2020 album “A Simple Trick to Happiness.” In a black outfit paired with some very festive socks (which she said she purchased at the Heinz History Center), Loeb stood onstage with her guitar and one other person.

“I want to introduce Nick, who’s up here with me today,” she told the crowd. “Nick is going to be doing the ASL interpretation over there.” Shoutout to Nick, who did a terrific job during both sets.

Loeb started off with the wistful “Wishing Heart.” She’s always had a very high, clear voice, but the bit more rasp to her vocals these days only lends more dimension to her music. For example, in the rapidly sung “Do You Sleep?” from 1991, the added experience of time lent the song a more poignant edge.

She talked about how she’s learned, through decades of touring, to see the famous attractions in the cities she visits. That meant a trip to the Andy Warhol Museum when she was here for a City Winery show last year. “I heard it was just going to be a quick little trip to the museum. I was there for hours. Because I’m kind of obsessed with Andy Warhol,” she said.

Some of her songs are playful and inspirational, like “Shine,” where she let the audience sing the last few repetitions of the chorus. She also asked the crowd for requests, and performed several of the shouted-out songs, including “Falling in Love.” Before unspooling the looser, grittier tune, she talked about singing it onstage with Emmylou Harris at Lilith Fair.

She switched into a little more of a harder pop-punk gear with “No Fairytale.” That was followed by “Truthfully,” a song for a romantic movie that didn’t make it into the movie (“One Fine Day” with George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer, for the curious).

She ended the set with her two biggest hits, the catchy “I Do” (a Canadian No. 1 hit) and the more earnest (but equally easy to sing along with) “Stay (I Missed You).” Both songs got the modest-but-growing crowd singing along.

Loeb herself is pure charm and such a pleasure to watch perform.

Alexis Papalia | TribLive

Suzanne Vega performs Sunday at the Three Rivers Arts Festival in the Strip District.

Vega, who took the stage with a couple of other musicians as the twilit sky was beginning to clear, was also delightful.

She excels at putting melody to lyrics that could be poetry, exemplified in her set’s opener “Marlene on the Wall,” which was a Top 10 U.K. hit in 1985. Taking the whole set to another level was guitarist Gerry Leonard, who was both able to add flourishes to the background and perform some awesome solos.

The set turned more sultry with ”99.9F” and “Caramel.” Vega declared that she liked to play her older stuff first, to get the audience more comfortable. She told the story of writing “Gypsy” for her camp counselor boyfriend at the age of 18 before they broke up at the end of the summer. “I wrote it all out in a poem, and I gave it to him in a card as a kind of gift, and he in return gave me his bandana.”

Cellist Stephanie Winters did a stellar job adding atmosphere to the epic and downbeat “Queen and the Soldier.” Vega next performed the title track from newest album, “Flying with Angels,” a song that she said was about caregivers, a role that many have had to take on in the past five years.

She kept it to current events for new track “Speaker’s Corner.” “This song I started two years ago. I kind of thought at the time that by the time the album came out, they wouldn’t need this song anymore. … It’s more or less about the First Amendment. I find it’s very relevant, actually,” she said. It was a highlight of the set, for sure.

The ’60s-folky “Chambermaid” and punkier “I Never Wear White” were both also highlights. She moved into a pair of her most recognizable songs toward the show’s close, the emotional story song “Luka,” with plaintive guitar that infused the song with softness. And then the most chantable song of all, “Tom’s Diner.” The band really made interesting and excellent choices here, with Leonard’s guitar acting as percussion and the cello bringing in a fascinating depth.

As the crowd — expecting the show’s end after such a recognizable bop — began to filter out of the Strip District festival grounds, she asked if we wanted one more. And of course we did.

That last song was the fast, almost neurotic “Blood Makes Noise,” wound through with whining guitar that had the crowd pumped up for the trip back home.

We’ll see who the Arts Festival gets to headline their return to Downtown next year — whoever it is will have a lot to live up to.