LIVE

Rip It Up, Issue 123, 1 October 1987, Page 38

LIVE

Suzanne Vega, Wayne Gillespie AucklandTownHall, Sept3o With her new short haircut and boyish black trouser suit Suzanne Vega presents a youthful, even gangly figure. Especially striking is the fact ■ that she’s . taller than her all-male band. If only her visual dominance had extended to the sound. Vega began, as expected, acapella with ‘Tom’s Diner,’ and was then joined by the band for a hard driving ‘Straight Lines.’ However by the third . number there were indications that, rather than, just support, the four “backing" musicians might well overwhelm her. ‘Small Blue Thing,’ like much of Vega’s work, is a highly introverted song. It was not helped by a very mobile drummer who treated his sixmicrophoned kit as if he were auditioning for Tina Turner. In concert this was the same band who plays on Vega’s current album, only more so. . Add on the typically difficult town hall acoustics and the fact that Vega’s usually soft voice was further muted by a slight cold. The result was that more often than not she sounded like the singer with a band whose music took prominence over any lyrical content. Occasionally this situation worked well, such as when she put down her guitar to play pop vocalist and even dance a bit during ‘Left of Centre’ or ‘The Saucy Neighbourhood Girls.’ More often than not however, it proved irksome and one of the evening’s highlights came when the band left the stage to allow a beautiful ‘Queen and the Soldier’ with just her guitar for accompaniment. In working with her current band

Vega seems to only fitfully reconcile the essentially personal nature of her music with its mass market packaging. She has an original talent that can and does shine when supported sympathetically. Her performance may well have been richer had she just chosen simple guitar and bass support, as demonstrated by Wayne Gillespie in his opening to the show. Gillespie and friends, although a might sloppy in their presentation, showed that it is even possible to achieve a sense of intimacy in the Auckland town hall.

Peter Thomson