It’s been almost forty years since her debut, but Suzanne Vega’s voice has not faded. It has not become hoarse or grainy: it still sounds exactly as pure as that girl who dazzled half the world at the age of 26 and a re-reading of the classics of the folk (most of all: Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen) or rock (least of all: Lou Reed) who emerged – along with the names of Tracy Chapman, Edie Brickell or Michelle Shocked – in the twilight of the eighties, whose radio formulas were marked precisely by the opposite: the excess of manufacturing, the opulence of lavish productions, luxury as a desirable end. What’s more, at 65 years old and surely back from almost everything, he radiates an imposing conviction. It was the first time in his life that he had set foot in Valencia, and any doubt that the brief format of his tour could have sown Old Songs, New Songs and Other Songssupported only by her and guitarist Gerry Leonard, was wiped out in a flash as soon as they were released Marlene on the Wall (as bright as in 1985) and 99.9 F° (as sophisticated as in 1992 but with a touch of austerity that gave it a blues rock feel). Leonard’s CV includes work on all three of David Bowie’s albums this century and some of his tours, for which he was chosen for his ability to play the guitar lines once outlined by Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew, and the truth is that Suzanne Vega could hardly have a more versatile partner on the electric guitar, getting so much out of such a small instrument, exhausting the possibilities of her pedal board.
The New Yorker was so self-assured that she made us believe for a few moments that the two extremes of her argument were equally solid. She is so good that she can sell you any bike: the poetic delicacy of the old ones Small Blue Thing, Penitent, Caramel, Left Of Center either Some Journey It is beyond any doubt, but they contrast with the tone of apocalyptic humor of Rats (bold lettering and confessed influence, mind you, of Ramones and Fontaines DC) and the proclamation for freedom of expression that illuminates Speaker’s Cornerboth taken from what will be her next album. Both, in any case, give a rock-like touch to her live performance, which is very good because it gives her diversity and expands her expressive range: in the first Suzanne recites and does not sing, she puts down the guitar and recites gesturing, deepening her serenade style. storytellerendowed with a fine irony, which she did not discard throughout the night. And it was very good for us, because it served to make us realize that there is a common link between the first song she scribbled at 18 years old, Gypsyand one In Liverpool which he wrote when he was 33, and it was a first love that was not very reciprocated. It ended, as expected, with his two best-known songs, one Luka that sounded like glory and a Tom’s Diner that does not lose its enigmatic spell, before an encore with Walk On The Wild Side (Lou Reed), the dynamic Tombstone and the deep lyricism of Tombstone. A delicious hour and a half.
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