A TALE OF TWO SOOS...

A few weeks ago Owen and I saw Suzanne Vega at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
This is the second time we have seen her at that venue and the third time in all.
She was promoting her new album BEAUTY AND CRIME - songs inspired by the people and the city of New York.

I have to say I enjoyed it more than the last time we saw her there when it was kinda just her and her resident bassist Mike and it felt all a bit subdued. This time however she was in fine form, very chatty with the audience - we weren't very chatty back initially but we warmed up. She has an interesting stage persona: witty and insightful while also retaining a guarded coolness. Her wearing of a light beige trench coat added to this unflappability. I am not an out-an-out fan unlike Owen who has all her albums, I only have a 1998 Best Of but she played a great selection of songs from her 22 year career. My favourites included the two versions of TOM'S DINER which bookended the main set, first a capella then the DNA-styled dance version; NEW YORK IS A WOMAN; CARAMEL; FRANK & AVA; SMALL BLUE THING; LEFT OF CENTER; BLOOD MAKES NOISE; IN LIVERPOOL; LUKA and MARLENE ON THE WALL. There is something very austere about her songwriting that I like a lot and hopefully she will be back again soon.

With a bit of prompting from O I said hello to Fred Shortlands in the foyer. Fred is one of the main advisers behind the JUSTICE FOR KIRSTY campaign being waged by Jean MacColl trying to bring Guillermo Gonzalez Nova to account for Kirsty's death in 2000. Fred is also involved with Casa Alianza which helps deprived children in South America and as Suzanne Vega is a keen supporter of this charity he is usually in the foyers of her UK shows promoting it. No discernible headway is being made with JFK but there is still movement happening in various Mexican legal circles.

I've been meaning to blog about the above but going to see Suzi Quatro last night was the final push needed!

She rocked out in the bizarre surroundings of Cannizaro Park in Wimbledon as part of their 2007 festival. The set up is a bit odd - a stage is set up at the end of a smallish Astroturf lawn with 2 covered seated stands facing each other on either side. The show started dead on 8pm with Suzi taking to the stage and rocking away to little avail as it was still light and a steady light rain fell on the anoraked fans sitting on blankets - yes Dawn... the curse of the blankets returns after our Kid Creole experience in Kew! A couple of new songs were okay but most were forgettable - sadly not a truly naff Elvis Presley tribute song which even she admitted was cobbled together from the titles of his songs.

However Surrey politeness is no match for 30+ years slogging away in the business and as darkness finally closed in and the rain stopped she returned for a second half of her more famous songs and in her tight leather pants - soon the stands were being deserted for a good-natured jig about in front of the stage. She worked that crowd - knowing exactly how to tease out the intros and the call-backs and by the end everyone was happy - from her grand-daughter held aloft at the front of the stage to the 50-somethings in too much leather. There was a meet n greet after the show unsurprisingly next to the merchandise counter which was run by some very mannish-looking ladies in their 40s. After manoeuvring Owen into position in the polite scrum behind the crash barrier I decided to get a photo signed too - well let's face it she's a 70s pop icon eh? And you don't meet many of them on a Sunday evening in a park in SW19.