Rush - Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, 7/7/2004

  by Philip Vincent

published: 22 / 7 / 2004

intro

Philip Vincent knew little about Suzanne Vega before he went to her recent show at the London Shepherd's Bush Empire. He comes away completely captivated and enthralled

Suzanne Vega is one of those names I only know from my misspent youth watching VH1. Anyway, deciding not to let this ruin my virgin experience, I waited for Vega to enter the stage. From the second she appeared I wasn’t disappointed. I instantly fell in love with her vocals. They were like syrup filling the cavernous Empire and completely flowed over the crowd and silenced every voice in the venue. I’m not going to lie. I know very little of Vegas’ songs, but I was captivated and enthralled whilst hanging on every word. She crafted beautiful songs either alone with guitar or with a full band. She grabbed the audience enchanting them with her siren like voice. At several points she brought this journalist close to tears with the innocence and truth behind her songs. I had to leave the venue early to ensure I could get home but before I left her version of 'Behind Blue Eyes' left me gobsmacked. I had only heard the truly dire Limp Bizkit version of this before. By the time I left I thought I had fallen in love but ,as the cold London rain slowly drenched me, I realised it was the sheer beauty of her voice I had fallen in love with. My photographer on the other hand was head over heels for her, a fact which he continued to talk about all the way home. Truly inspiring ! The photograph that accompanies this article was taken by Matthew Williams

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