Seen as the foremother of female singer/songwriters such as Alanis Morissette and Sheryl Crowe, Suzanne Vega made a rare visit to Dublin. Coming from Glastonbury, this is the start of a major European tour for Vega, who first made her mark 13 years ago with the best-selling single, Luka.
With only a bassist in tow, Vega played an acoustic session to an attentive and largely male audience. Vega's almost childlike face reflects her voice, which has a very pure quality. Opening with her other best-seller, Marlene, Vega secured her devoted fans, one of them her daughter who waved from the sidelines. Once compared to the writer Raymond Carver, Vega's lyrics are largely anecdotal and Vega related the stories attached to many of the songs. We were told the song In Liverpool was about Vega's first love and Bono once commented that Rock in his pocket was a "woman's song".
She also recited from her book The Passionate Eye (1999) about her childhood in a Hispanic neighbourhood of New York. All of this gave a very private feeling to the gig. But it was not all talk, and Vega's set comprised much from her latest, "best of" album, Tried and True. Songs such as Gypsy and Harbour Song had the young chap beside me yelling "yes, yes" and cheering for more.
Suzanne Vega makes for an unusual idol. Neither playing up to the adulation nor looking easy in the limelight, Vega was the epitome of calm, probably a result of her devout Buddhism. Ending the gig with Tom's Diner, of the dance duo DNA's remix hit, she took the audience easily into the chorus and two encores later left with a quiet "Thank you".
