Suzanne Vega, National Music Foundation, 5/8/99

by Seth Rogovoy

(LENOX, Mass., May 9, 1999) - Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega brought this year's Berkshire Music Festival to a close with a relaxed performance at the National Music Foundation's Berkshire Performing Arts Theatre on Saturday night.

Accompanying herself on acoustic guitar and with the unobtrusive support of her long-time bassist, Mike Visceglia, the soft-voiced Vega took a coffeehouse-style approach to her show. She bantered amiably with the crowd, which included several fans who shouted questions and requests to Vega, many of which she acknowledged with steely grace. She elaborated on some of her songs, telling stories about how they were written or explaining her intended meanings. And she read a few poems and stories from her recent book, "The Passionate Eye."

Mostly, however, Vega let her carefully-written song-poems do the heavy lifting. Without the claustrophobic band arrangements that have marred some of her more recent shows and albums, Vega's songs were given a chance to breathe -- their verbal twists and sophisticated melodic turns given emphasis in contrast to the minimalist accompaniment.

As a result, the songs were able to make connections amongst each other, as common themes and images began to emerge. Inanimate objects that take on emotional resonance populate several of her songs, as do recurrences of stockings and blood. She paints these pictures in impressionist fashion - "I am scattering like light," she sang in "Small Blue Thing."

Several of her songs are bolstered dramatically by confrontations, often between a innocent naif and a worldly, ominous force: the biblical David vs. Goliath in "Rock in this Pocket," the young girl and the streetwalker of "Neighborhood Girls," the daughter and mother of "Bad Wisdom," the abused child and downstairs neighbor of "Luka." A story she read, "My Friend Millie," was just an extended prose version of one of these face-to-face meetings with adversity.

Given her figuratively naked readings of many of these songs, Vega exposed their genetic code. What was most interesting was while she is often described as a "folkie" or a "new Joni Mitchell," these were not the influences that were primarily apparent.

Rather, Vega seems to have taken her lead from the tradition of the gritty, urban male rock poet as embodied by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Lou Reed. From Dylan she gets her penchant for verbal effusion and surrealism; from Cohen she gets her gift for poetic imagery and metaphor; from Reed she finds support for her street-level point of view. "Neighborhood Girls" is perhaps the greatest Lou Reed song he never wrote.

Vega displayed other musical debts too. The sensual love song "Caramel," with Vega's delicate, jazzy vocals floating atop a pulsing dance beat strummed on her guitar, was an obvious nod to Brazilian bossa nova. "The Queen and the Soldier" showed that Vega has indeed listened to traditional folk balladry. "Stockings" was a lovely bit of Lennon and McCartney-style writing, sort of "Norwegian Wood" meets "I Feel Fine."

In fact, the only melodic misstep of the evening was "Bad Wisdom," which bears an unfortunate and nagging resemblance to Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." That's one ship best left sunk.

In spite of the fact that she eschewed formality or pop-star posturing, Vega exhibited a lack of warmth that undermined her best efforts to connect with the crowd. There was something forced and artificial in much of her commentary. Perhaps she was just being protective of herself, but one never got the sense that Vega was at ease with herself or the audience.

The Berkshire's own Robby Baier won legions of new fans during his opening set of original compositions. Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and electric bass for one number, Baier boasted elastic, soulful vocals which effortlessly glide into falsetto. He plays an atmospheric guitar on moody rock ballads that are alternately catchy - "Here Comes Her Man" - and funky - "Seriously." He is definitely on the way up.

Search by Artist Name Album Title