It was no great surprise (and gladly so) to see Suzanne Vega performing here in the UK. At a guess, the New York-based singer-songwriter has regularly toured these shores at a rate of perhaps once in every couple of years. What is of greater surprise, though, is this current tour being in support of only her first studio album in ten years. Five of tonight’s songs were from this year’s “Flying With Angels” album, yet as Vega amusingly theorised to the crowd early into the evening’s proceedings, “It’s best to leave the new stuff until later, otherwise an audience can become far too anxious.” On which basis then, ‘Marlene On the Wall’, ‘Gypsy’ and ‘The Queen and The Soldier’ from the early era of the back catalogue were swiftly and enthusiastically executed. Assisting Vega on stage were cellist Stephanie Winters and, on guitar, the punky-haired and fairly regularly touring sidekick Gerry Leonard. As Vega played her acoustic guitar (or at varying times, not at all), Leonard’s role was more than merely providing electric accompaniment. With his jazzy flourishes on ‘Caramel’, cutting grooves to ‘99.9 F°’ and eerie sustain on ‘In Liverpool’, he filled this famous auditorium with a suitable surrounding ambience.
At an appropriately gauged position, then, it was time for songs from the new album. The title tune, ‘Flying With Angels’, had all the smoothly melodic trademarks of classic Suzanne Vega. On the politically charged ‘Speaker’s Corner’, Vega sang “Promising the miracles and pocketing the cash, pretending they have principles, preaching only ash,” needing, in these current times, perhaps not much lyrical explanation required. The song ‘I Never Wear White’ was a big apple gal’s personal interpretation of Johnny Cash’s ‘Man In Black’, and on ‘Chambermaid’, Vega very cleverly lifts the musicality of Bob Dylan’s ‘I Want You’ and lyrically tells a tale from the viewpoint of the chambermaid mentioned in exactly the same song. With a coy and youthful exuberance, Vega re-enacts her time when, as support act to Dylan, at a post-gig social moment, she laid a pecked cheeked kiss upon the freewheelin’ bard himself.
Using the cello for slapped rhythm and loop pedalling Leonard’s guitar, a superb rendition of ‘Tom’s Diner’ closed out the main set, and they returned for an encore with a lounge styled re-take of Lou Reed’s ‘Walk On The Wild Side’. “This one means more, though”, explained Vega to the crowd, noting that this is not her first show at the Royal Albert Hall, having headlined twice previously some 39 years ago. Only two years prior to those shows, elaborates Vega, she’d been working as a receptionist before being somewhat catapulted into the music charts. The night closes with the final song from her latest disc, ‘Galway’, a Celtic-tinged paean to love’s chance encounters as told from the viewpoint of a woman some years later. It was proof, if ever needed, that Suzanne Vega’s songwriting is still of the highest calibre and, along with that, she can still deliver a live show to match.
Support for the evening and the tour came from Katherine Priddy. To describe Priddy, at 31 years of age as an up and coming folk star may not perhaps be quite so apt, but it is safe to say she has gained much traction (largely) in the folk world over the last few years having released her debut album “The Eternal Rocks Beneath” in 2021 and followed that with “The Pendulum Swings” in 2024. Aiding Priddy with some sublime electric guitar and backing vocals was George Boomsma. Although folk tinged, Priddy’s sound is not exclusively within that domain and at times her melodic sensibilities and vocals were reminiscent of Kirsty MacColl. She debuted a new song, ‘Matches’, from her forthcoming album “These Frightening Machines”, due for release in March 2026. Priddy is set to tour the UK next spring and is well worth checking out.
