I first saw Suzanne Vega at the Manchester Apollo in the mid-80s with my Dad. I played her debut album relentlessly, I can still sing the main and backing vocals for every track. It felt like she was involving you in an intimate conversation.
In 2020 I bought a ticket to see her again, in London. I was still working remotely in the role I had moved to Manchester for in January that year, but had been forced to move back to London that summer (see Finding my Feet). It would have been the first live music event I had been to since the start of the pandemic. She was playing at the Barbican, round the corner from the flat I had moved back into, and I hoped it would make me feel at home in my London neighbourhood again. I booked just one ticket, willing to take a risk for myself but uncomfortable booking a ticket for my Dad, who would have enjoyed coming down to London for a concert in different times. Then the number of coronavirus cases and deaths began to increase, Christmas 2020 was effectively cancelled, live music shut down again, and the concert was postponed. I bought the album New York Songs and Stories that the tour was meant to promote (and a copy for my Dad for Christmas) and forgot about the gig. Tonight I got to use my ticket. I recently sold the London flat that I had to move back into in 2020. It's nearly five years since Mr D died and nearly twenty since we first moved in. After a lot of soul searching and looking further afield, I moved just round the corner. Perhaps it took moving my whole life to Manchester and back to help me shake off the things that made me want to leave. I needed to miss them. Being alone in a new city during lockdown made me appreciate the things that made my London neighbourhood my home. My vinyl copy of Suzanne Vega's debut album is still in storage in Manchester, but I hope to be reunited with the rest of my things soon. So how was the gig? Suzanne was charming, witty, a superb story teller and still had the power to make you feel like she was involving you in an intimate conversation through her music. A fitting way to celebrate a two year journey as I finally (fingers crossed) make a fresh start.
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