Tonight turned out to be interesting – a last minute opportunity to have dinner and see Suzanne Vega at the Pigalle Club on Piccadilly in London.
It was an early start, getting into the club for about 6:30pm for dinner at 7. A rather strange little place, like some finely preserved throw back from the late fifties or early sixties. You could just imagine East End gangsters and the like leaning at the bar. When dinner arrived, it was fine, although not spectacular by any means (and I know spectacular when I see it/taste it! More on that later) and the beginning of the evening was spoilt a little by the fire alarm constantly going off due to ‘problems’ in the Clydesdale Bank next door (were those cockney gangsters tunneling I wonder??). The staff certainly looked rather nervous :\
The big plus for the evening was that our table literally touched the edge of the stage right in front of the mic stand so we had the best seats in the house. The poor souls who hadn’t paid for dinner (but still paid nearly £30 for the privilege of being there) were standing jammed into the back left corner of the club while the diners were spaced out across the rest of it – our glorious position there right at the front did make me feel a little guilty…
Well on with the show. Just before 9 the support act came on (whose name I can’t recall), a chap who was a bit country/a bit folk – not really my style but he was fine. Then it was time for Suzanne who came on with her drummer, Doug Yowell, and her regular bass player, Mike Visceglia (who is wonderfully talented btw!). It was an energetic evening, and we were treated to songs old and new. We heard ‘Tom’s Diner’, ‘Luka’, ‘Marlena on the Wall’ and others from her old set, including my all-time favourite, ‘The Queen and the Soldier’ (which always makes me well up!) but no ‘(I’ll Never Be) Your Maggie May’ unfortunately (Suzanne’s response to the Rod Steward number with a similar title if you were wondering!). She also performed some numbers from the new album, ‘Beauty & Crime’, including ‘Ludlow St’ and ‘Pornographer’s Dream’. A wonderful show. It was all slightly soured by the fact that after six beers and a bottle of water we were presented with a bill for £55 though… West End club prices eh? No wonder I don’t go to clubs very often. Hmmph
From Suzanne Vega … |