After freeing myself from the dirt, I wandered about to feel the atmosphere. There were a lot of traders and Irish agitators and some leftover hippies and punks, but most people looked like quite ordinary music lovers. I couldn't sense any togetherness at all, people were simply too sober. And what is so desirable about being part of a screaming mob, really?
Suzanne Vega should appear solo on stage three around a quarter to six. The stage was in a huge tent which could hold a considerable audience. As the programme promised, it took some fighting to get to the front. I almost made it. Although I could see Suzanne perfectly, the firm support of the fence would have been nice after standing for hours.
Suzanne performing at an Irish festival might seem far-fetched. The arrangers included her to widen the appeal of the festival and because she has a good Irish following. Besides, some Irish blood flows in her veins since her biological father is partly Irish.
At last Suzanne entered the stage, and her graceful beauty immediately made her the centre of attention. She wore a tight black shirt and loose grey trousers. Her hair was slightly longer than recently, but still dyed copper.
Suzanne started the set with a new song, Rock in This Pocket (or: The Last Thing I Do). It is a menacing song from the point-of- view of David before he throws the stone at Goliath, and it is in many ways a parallel to In the Eye. I also took it to be a song about feeling small but wanting to get noticed, and about the right to an individual perspective, however small. But in this song, like in the Bible (1 Sam 17:4ff), a small thing can be very powerful. The throwing of the stone could perhaps also be a metaphor for singing and songwriting: "One moment / --- / It's what I need / --- / I'll make you see".
The second song was Marlene on the Wall, a must in England. Personally, I would have preferred something heard less often (why not Big Space?). Then followed a wonderfully melancholy Tired of Sleeping. Neighborhood Girls made a good contrast and is far more effective played solo than it is on the album, which shows Suzanne's range as a guitarist. The Queen and the Soldier, always a favourite, was next.
Then came Blood Sings, an extremely moving song about looking at damaged photographs of an ill-fated uncle Suzanne has never met, but in whom she recognizes parts of herself. The beautiful melody and urgent question "how did this come to pass?" makes me feel like crying. This song is probably also about confronting personal history and working through.
The next song, When Heroes Go Down, is a very direct and powerful one "about people falling off of pedestals" and the merciless treatment that awaits them. The recent downfall of Communism and revolutionary heroes might have been an inspiration, but there are no specific references at all. Both guitar and voice are strong and rich -- for the first time Suzanne makes use of her deep and forceful voice in singing.
The last of the new songs, In Liverpool, has stayed on my mind and the haunting melody lives a life of its own inside of me. Beginning very quietly, it describes a pale, ominous Sunday in Liverpool. Suddenly, the silence is broken by a boy ringing the church bells for half an hour and throwing himself down from the tower. This loud and desperate chorus is again contrasted with hushed and sparse verses expressing subdued memories of lost love. The two moods are dramatically brought together when the speaker identifies with the feelings of loss projected onto the "hunchback in heaven". The magic of this song recalls the best live performances of Men in a War and the heartbreaking tone in Suzanne's voice when she sings the word "fighting" in Tired of Sleeping on the album.
Luka is still an urgent song, a masterpiece that hasn't lost its appeal. Finally, the enthusiastic audience clapped and lilted to Tom's Diner à la DNA. Despite frantic applause Suzanne never came back for an encore, and when the next band entered the stage, everyone left.
Immediately afterwards I felt a pang of disappointment. Was it over already? I watched Suzanne backstage for a while and saw her talking to Luka Bloom. When she signed someone's plaster cast I almost wished I'd had a broken leg too. There was no chance to talk to her this time.
* * *It is evident that Suzanne puts greater emphasis on melody than before -- the new songs have a wider range and the music conveys more subtle feelings. The musical beauty was further enhanced by her marvellous guitar playing and more confident singing style.
The new songs also seem to be more emotional than her earlier ones, perhaps suggesting that she has learnt how to feel her own feelings in addition to thinking about them a lot. But the intellectual aspect is certainly not lacking either.
Some images and themes in the new songs are easy to recognize from Suzanne's earlier work. The lines "I'll be the girl / who sings for my supper" are obviously derived from The Rent Song (which is probably about ten years old). More interestingly, Rock in This Pocket turns the stoic defiance of In the Eye into a heroic demand for attention. The image of the small object making a great impact has also been explored before (e.g. in Undertow), and there appears to be an element of identification with that perfect inanimate object -- which is peculiar to Suzanne Vega (e.g. in Small Blue Thing). The battlefield is another metaphor that Suzanne frequently returns to, most recently in both Rock in This Pocket and When Heroes Go Down. And the vague feelings of loss that so often tinge her music are as present as ever. Like the recurring chorus of a song, this is not simple repetition. Many of Suzanne's songs are like photographs highlighting a specific situation or feeling, but taken together they constitute a whole world view. It was extremely satisfying to hear that the new songs are part of the rich web of images, symbols and thoughts that make up the wonderful world of Suzanne Vega.
I have a need to understand Suzanne's songs, to analyze them, which is both fun and intellectually stimulating. But their real magic cannot be grasped with the intellect. The slow process of assimilating the songs and the sudden revelations they bring is what really matters. Suzanne forces me to change myself and my perception of the world; she helps me to endure and see beauty in life -- and to feel my own feelings.
How I long for the new album...
* * *The reviewers in the English papers didn't even mention Suzanne's performance, while their colleagues were busy mercilessly digging up the most intimate details of Princess Diana's marital life. Irrelevant as it may seem, the silence of the press can result in a grim economic reality that stifles creativity. Why has Suzanne not produced the new album herself, for instance? I really hope she hasn't yielded to short-sighted pressure from the record company. Professional advice may be a short cut to a nice result as the two first albums proved, but the strength of Suzanne's music does not lie in a slick production. On the other hand, leaving the minutiae to others may be necessary, and economic factors must unfortunately also be taken into consideration. After all, it is thanks to the commercial success of Suzanne's records that she has reached us all and helped lots of abused children. It isn't as easy as art for art's sake. I am convinced Suzanne's instinct and intelligence will put her on the right track. And she has held her ground before.
Note: All quotations are transcribed and might contain errors.
Hugo Westerlund
Suzanne Vega's self-titled status as one of America's lead- first album introduced her vocalists, and also reflected a to the world as a sensitive more upbeat sound, the singer's soul with a gift for probing acoustic folk roots being forsaken the soft underbelly of New for a more high-tech glossy finish. York. Her range might have However, Vega's perspective on reached from mellow to life is sitll an embattled one. "I melancholy, but she struck guess I write a lot about soldiers a chord, her first album sel- and battles," she says. "The battle ling 1.5 million worldwide. thing is just what life is about. Every- If her debut album is re- body has their sphere. Elvis Costello membered for Marlene On has this kind of love-hate relation- The Wall, an affecting song ship with the world, Joni Mitchell of loves lost but not forgot- sings about her lovers, and I guess ten, her second, Solitude mine is this battle of getting up in the Standing, produced the morning and doing what you have to phenomenal Tom's Diner, a do." track that has been covered Suzanne Vega remains as popular so many times that a compi- as ever, so if you want to appreciate lation album of all the differ- this fine artist, prepare to fight your ent versions has been re- way to the front. leased. Vega's third album, Days Of Open Hand, confirmed her