Loudon Wainwright III has spent more than fifty years writing songs that make you laugh until you realize they’re breaking your heart. On September 3, nine days before his 80th Birthday Jubilee at Town Hall in New York City, he brings that particular gift to Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs — and the timing turns an intimate folk club evening into something that carries the weight of a milestone.
About the Show
The Caffe Lena date is the second of two consecutive nights Wainwright plays the venue, part of a fall run that culminates with his birthday celebration in Manhattan. He has been described as “one of America’s most original and fearless songwriters,” and across a catalog spanning nearly thirty albums (including the Grammy-winning High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, 2009) that characterization holds. His 1972 “Dead Skunk” reached the Top 20 and made him famous; the decades of frank, funny, and occasionally devastating songwriting that followed made him something closer to essential. His songs have been covered by Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs, and his son Rufus Wainwright. His current project, SIGNS (This Land Is My Land), continues a late-career stretch that includes the 2022 album Lifetime Achievement and the 2020 I’d Rather Lead a Band, recorded with Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks. Opening the evening is Emily Barnes, a New Jersey-born contemporary folk songwriter with four albums behind her and a sold-out Northeast tour behind Mint Condition. Caffe Lena describes Barnes as a writer who “finds the extraordinary in ordinary lives,” a quality that earns its own space on a bill anchored by a songwriter who has built an entire career on exactly that territory.
Venue & Logistics
Caffe Lena sits at 47 Phila Street in Saratoga Springs, a capital-region folk club and listening room with 110 seats. It is close enough that you can see a songwriter’s hands, close enough that there is no distance between a lyric and the person it was written for. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The show runs until 9:00 p.m. and is also available via livestream on Caffe Lena TV for those who cannot make the trip.
Tickets
Tickets are priced at $65.07 general admission (inclusive of fees), with member pricing at $59.65 and child/student admission at $32.53. Caffe Lena does not permit resale above face value; purchases in violation may be canceled without refund. A $5 livestream ticket is available via Caffe Lena TV, with 100% of proceeds going directly to the artists. Buy tickets