Suzanne Vega tells New York Stories at the Theatre Royal

SUZANNE VEGA + JOHN SMITH – THEATRE ROYAL, BRIGHTON 10.2.22

It wasn’t quite woolly hat weather on this fresh and cold Thursday evening in Brighton Central, but it wasn’t far off. I had been waiting to see Suzanne Vega perform ever since I saw and fell in love with the song ‘Marlene On The Wall’ on Top Of The Pops at the ripe old age of sixteen (1986 was the year), but for some reason had never got round to it until tonight.

I saw her once before in London at The Barbican as part of a ‘Rogues Gallery’ sea shanty performance, but she just read a piece of poetry which didn’t quite scratch my itch. There were two large queues leading into the Theatre Royal for tonight’s sold out gig so anticipation was high and there was a buzz in the air as we flashed our Covid passports upon entry.

For the uninitiated and hermit cave dwellers, here’s a quick lowdown on Suzanne’s career. She is a folk/indie singer and songwriter who has spent 40 years in music and enjoyed her popularity breakthrough in the mid 1980’s. She began her musical life by performing in Greenwich Village and her self-titled breakout LP was released in 1985 and achieved platinum status in the UK.

She has released nine albums (and counting) and had her song ‘Tom’s Diner’ remixed by dance duo ‘D.N.A’ which became a massive hit which reached the No.1 spot in five countries. She had a song featured on the classic 80’s John Hughes movie, ‘Pretty In Pink’ and was also the first woman to headline Glastonbury Festival in which she wore a bulletproof vest because of death threats from an over obsessive fan. There would be no such threat tonight I can safely say as the only upsetting of the apple cart would most probably be someone spilling their wine accidentally over someone’s lap.

First up tonight was a singer/songwriter going by the name of ‘John Smith’ (NOT a Yorkshire Bitter. I imagine he is sick of hearing that). After the show, I did my research on him via ‘Ask Jeeves’ and discovered he was in possession of quite the C.V. He is originally from Essex but spent time in Hove (actually) amongst many other destinations. He has toured the UK, Europe and the U.S and is about to embark on another tour of the States soon. He has also fulfilled guitar duties with Jools Holland, Gil-Scott Heron and John Martyn so he’s no stranger to a big stage. He’s also released 7 albums so far which makes him prolific in my book. His performance tonight was very mellow in style and there were a few technical issues with the sound at first, but he took it all in good spirit and all was good by the end. The crowd really warmed to his music and his comedic banter in between songs and, I’m sure he will go down well on the rest of the tour dates.

www.johnsmithjohnsmith.com

Just before Suzanne Vega was about to grace the stage, people were getting fidgety and couldn’t seem to settle in their seats. It was like watching cats on a hot tin roof, until I got caught in the middle of people arguing about seat allocations, resulting in one couple storming out (probably how cats would react to the situation). Shortly afterwards, the atmosphere lightened as more catnip was consumed.

Suzanne came on stage sporting a top hat (which put my woolly hat to shame) to welcoming applause along with an accompanying Irish guitarist by the name of Gerry Leonard who had a touch of the Keith Richards about him (we later discovered he was in David Bowie’s latter band line ups as well as musical director, along with a stint on guitar with Cyndi Lauper among many others).

Immediately my prayers were answered as they launched straight into ‘Marlene On The Wall’. It was just as good as I had hoped and it gave me goosebumps. She followed this with ‘Freeze Tag’ and ‘Caramel’ and then played another early tune by the name of ‘Gypsy’ which was written, we were told, about an early love she met way back in summer camp. In exchange he gave her his bandana…..

The banter between songs was top notch and Suzanne definitely knows how to tell a story in a very amusing way. The next song she played was a newer one by the name of ‘In Liverpool’ which is now currently my new favourite song. This was also written with the same ex-lover in mind and features a killer guitar hook to die for.

This tour was based around an album of hers called ‘An Evening Of New York Songs And Stories’ and the following songs were ‘Frank And Ava’, ‘New York Is My Destination’ and ‘New York Is A Woman’ which followed that theme nicely. Next up, was for me, the forgotten classic, ’Left Of Center’ which quite rightly went down a storm with the crowd. She performed shortly after, a new rockier sounding song called ‘I Never Wear White’ explaining why she always wears black which I totally relate to. Before you knew it, her top hat was back on as she ran through the classic ‘Luka’ and ‘Tom’s Diner’ to end on. She performed the latter in the style of the more dancey D.N.A version of the song, with the help of Gerry Leonard’s effects pedal which gave it that funky groove as she paced round the stage.

She left the stage to big applause and came back on shortly afterwards for an encore. She began with a Blondie cover (‘Dreaming’) which was a pleasant surprise, and ended with a rendition of ‘Rosemary’ which didn’t disappoint. Suzanne said this gig felt monumental as it had been originally booked over two years ago, but had been held back over the Covid situation. She is not wrong. One hour and thirty minutes absolutely flew by and tonight was an excellent way to christen my 2022 gigging calendar. This was the first night of Suzanne’s tour and if anyone catches her on one of the other dates, they are in for a treat.

Suzanne Vega setlist:
‘Marlene On The Wall’
‘Freeze Tag’
‘Caramel’
‘Gypsy’
‘In Liverpool’
‘The Queen & The Soldier’
‘Frank And Ava’
‘New York Is My Destination’
‘New York Is A Woman’
‘Left Of Center’
‘I Never Wear White’
‘Some Journey’
‘Luka’
‘Tom’s Diner’
(encore)
‘Dreaming’ (Blondie cover)
‘Tombstone’
‘Rosemary’

www.suzannevega.com