UKC

I've never reviewed a concert on here before and this one is a bit less "concert review" and a bit of an indulgent "my history with this artist" thing. Copy and paste job from my "social media" outlet

I went to see Ms Vega in concert last night in Lincoln.


"

I have never really considered myself "a big Suzanne Vega fan" but she's a name that's been around ever since I first started paying attention to music. I remember very well in 1988 summer holidays when I was 12 and nearly 13, we had a family holiday touring France, Belgium and Holland. In Belgium we stayed with posh family friends who had an au pair for their kids. She was raving on about Suzanne Vega. Me being on the verge of adolescence, of course I wasn't going to listen to some woman banging on about this quiet mousy singer. My loss. But the name stuck. Then there was the DNA remix of Tom's Diner which was everywhere in 1991-2. 
THEN the 99.9 album and "cool Vega with beats" popping up on The Late Show etc. I loved "Blood Makes Noise" and noted it. Taped "9 Objects of Desire" off a friend in 1996 and sort of listened to it but not that much. By then, the older singles beyond Tom's Diner, had crept into consciousness. 1999 or 2000, bought the Tried and True compilation. 2011, bought Solitude Standing on tape in a charity shop for 20p. That's all I owned - a compilation and one tape plus a "pirated" album .

So I got in a mild panic about last night's concert, thinking "I haven't shown her enough respect in my life, I gotta listen to more albums", an exercise which I really enjoyed but it was rushed...

And yet....she managed to play for 75 minutes with only 4 or 5 songs that I didn't really know. Which shows that she is one of those artists that can get under your skin without you realising. And EVERY song including the unfamiliar ones, was fab. And she didn't play Caramel, which I don't like. Yay. 

She was intriguing to watch, she was in fine voice (and is no slop on the guitar) but it was almost a bit cabaret, as if she was playing "the standards", and even her between-song banter came across not so much as banter but as scripted monologue that would call for audience reaction and then somewhat ignore it (regarding "which song to play next", when it's obvious she's going to play what's next on her set list, no spontaneous requests). And she pulled this off actually - it wasn't charmless at all. 

I was far more blissed out than I expected to be during Marlene on the Wall, Blood Makes Noise, Small Blue Thing, Left of Centre, Luka, Gypsy and The Queen and the Soldier. In Liverpool never grabbed me in the first place, and Tom's Diner did feel a bit like "churning it out" although she acted like she was enjoying it . And other songs I didn't know, still all good. I'd have liked Last Year's Troubles but hey ho."

In reply to Blue Straggler:

How weird, I was just thinking about "luka" yesterday and how the song is about a little boy but my ex was convinced it was about a battered woman. 

In reply to Removed User:

I can see why she'd think that.  It's about someone lying about being hit.  

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Sounds great.  Which Tom's diner did she sing?  

In reply to marsbar:

With a backbeat. The cheesy low point of the show, to be honest . Although I feel picky for saying so. I was dying to ask her about that time when Jools Holland on slater said she was a genius and she just nodded in agreement, which was awesome.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I saw her a long time ago when she was touring her second album. I remember thinking ok, but a bit slick/ polished. Lost touch with her of since then but might be good to see her again. 

In reply to marsbar:

Hmmm. I didn't know that. My memory of the explanation for the song was that it was about a child being hit. Perhaps I should revisit the lyrics?

In reply to Removed User:

seem to remember the lyric "they only hit until you cry" so implies a child

In reply to marsbar:

My understand has always been that Luca is about an abused child. A quick google gives Vega confirming that.

In reply to marsbar:

So, just checked in with the 100% accurate Wikipedia and this was Suzanne's explanation of the song:

A few years ago, I used to see this group of children playing in front of my building, and there was one of them, whose name was Luka, who seemed a little bit distinctive from the other children. I always remembered his name, and I always remembered his face, and I didn't know much about him, but he just seemed set apart from these other children that I would see playing. And his character is what I based the song Luka on. In the song, the boy Luka is an abused child—in real life I don't think he was. I think he was just different.[4]

 

In reply to Carless:

I know it was written about a child but some of the lyrics really make me think of a woman with an abusive partner.  Particularly the bit about don't ask, and  "walked into a door again".  

In reply to marsbar:

When I read this reply I assumed you were suggesting that it was about someone pretending to be hit. I now think you meant it was about someone who was being hit but lying to cover it up?

Yes?

 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I saw her perform at Womad once. My abiding memory is of a young woman collapsing towards the front of the audience and being stretchered out in the clear space in front of the stage. Vega continued to perform flawlessly as her eyes followed the person being carried away a metre or two in front of her.

In reply to Removed User:

Sorry I wasn’t clear, yes  I meant someone who had been hit lying to a concerned person that they were fine and walked into a door.  Hence to me it has connotations of a woman in an abusive relationship too scared or too ashamed to tell anyone.  

In reply to marsbar:

Gotcha. And yes, that was my ex's original interpretation and yes, I can understand why that would have been the case.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I met Suzanne Vega once. I was working at some small festival event and for some reason I was operating lights for all the acts - I must have been the only one working there, as despite being perfectly capable of operating a lighting desk I have absolute no trace of talent for lighting design.

Suzanne was the headline act and I was asked to meet her to discuss what she'd like for her show. Terribly nervous in case she and her manager realised that I didn't have a clue, I sat down for lunch with them. She appeared even more shy than me, asking very politely for the most simple requests as if they were huge favours - while I resisted the urge to remind her she was the headline act and was entitled to whatever she wanted. With huge relief on my part she explained that she wanted as little as possible lighting wise - something I could probably manage! I was struck by her humility and shyness, and during the concert that followed I became a fan.

 

In reply to marsbar:

Or a man...

 

In reply to John2:

She has always struck me as a living definition of "insouciance" although not in a pejorative way. She looks like she totally knows everything that is going on, and knows that it'll all take care of itself somehow, and she just can just get on with what she does (i.e. making music)

Aloof without being pretentious. 

 

In reply to toad:

Interesting to see your comment - that "slick/polished" aspect maybe kept me away from her for too long as I prefer things a bit more rough around the edges, but sometimes you just have to get over that in order not to miss out. Very slick and polished in the live show, just her and a very good (if maybe soul-less) extra guitarist ,with percussion seemingly from backing tracks. But at the same time, she wasn't exactly trying to replicate the sound of the studio albums. It was all good!

In reply to aln:

I don't think there was much awareness of domestic violence towards men at the time the song came out.  

I was saying what it made me think of, at the time, which was a woman.  

It doesn't mean I don't acknowledge men who are in that position.  

 

In reply to marsbar:

Fair enough.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Because you have, or have not … been tempted  ?  

In reply to marsbar:

perhaps not universally but I seem to remember plenty of cartoons from newspapers in the 60s and 70s that laughingly recognised violence to men if they stepped out of line, Giles and Andy Capp etc?

In reply to wercat:

I wasn’t around in the 60s or old enough to read the papers in the 70s.  

In reply to marsbar:

perhaps not but there was a comedy theme of men having to watch their step if they didn't want roughing up a bit at home ..