live at the royal albert hall

[video stills by neil impelluso] From The Musician interview, part 2, 1990: Tell me what happened when you played the Albert Hall in London. "Well, that's where D.A. Pennebaker had filmed Don't Look Back with Bob Dylan in 1965. And everyone was making such a big deal out of my appearance there, which made me feel that perhaps I wasn't up to all the expectations. I was tired and thought, What if I'm disappointing? I felt lost with all the film crews and the pomp and circumstance. Ron Fierstein, my manager, was really excited and going, This is the biggest gig of your career - of your life! And you don't want to hear that. You want to hear, Oh, everything will be fine. So I kept thinking, It's not such a big goddamn deal. I can walk out right now if I feel like it. But of course, I didn't. So there's pictures of me and the band stomping off the stage after the concert looking completely grim and upset. And the audience is going, Yea!" From The Undertow Intervew with Michael Visceglia, 1989: The Albert Hall shows in 1986: It's a very prestigious venue, lots of history, the Bob Dylan connection, etc... Were you conscious of that on the night? "Oh yes, and I think it comes across like that too: it was a very reserved show. In the video of it I don't think they got rid of that sense of reservedness about it, even with editing. It's a very formal setting; it was a similar feeling when we played Carnegie Hall in New York. " (Michael Visceglia) From Sounds, December, 1986: How did you like playing the Royal Albert Hall? "It was probably the biggest gig I'd ever done in my life, so I was very relieved when it was over. The thing I came up against in the States was everybody said, Isn't that where Dylan played? Also because they were filming the second night I felt all this pressure to be perfect, and I'm not..." You didn't look like you were nervous... "That's because I was upset!" she says, collapsing with laughter and surprise. "See, I've been doing it long enough to control my emotions onstage, but there were a million things going on in my head." From Q Magazine, 1988: At the Albert Hall, November 18, 1986: "Psychologically, it was the big turning point for me, the point at which I first felt I'd become famous. Everyone was running around like headless chickens and all I wanted to do was treat it like a normal concert." (Suzanne Vega) From The Solitude Standing Songbook, 1987: In England, in fact, Suzanne has become quite a major star, to the extent that a British tour last fall included two sold-out performances at London's fabled Albert Hall, and a half-hour BBC television show culled from footage of the concerts drew an estimated audience of over two and a half million viewers. "I spent a summer in England in 1979," she says, "and I was really inspired by the country's style. I remember wishing that I could somehow make an impact there. So in many ways, the response I've gotten in England has been very, very gratifying."