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I had a good time, of course. There are numerous reasons that I don't often go to concerts (like, one a decade seems to be about normal). But I had a very, very good time. (It helped immensely that this one was outdoors - it gave me a great deal of confidence that it would be a good time - as the volume is one of the reasons I seldom go to concerts. I knew I could move further away if I needed to, and not have walls blocking the sound too well.)
Suzanne was on first and she was just beautiful to listen to. I went to the concert to hear her, after all, and I wasn't disappointed. She sang (NOT in this order) the Queen and the Soldier, Marlene on the Wall, Left of Center, Rosemary, (I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May, Tom's Diner, In Liverpool, Caramel, Luka, Blood Makes Noise, Penitent, When Heroes Go Down, Some Journey, and Gypsy. She also sang a new song (new as in penned recently and she still brings the lyrics on stage and claims to worry about remembering them) about a root-bound plant. I suspect it is, like some of the others, one that will have to grow on me (which I suppose is a bad pun in this case). I had not heard Rosemary before, which was her next-to-last piece and I loved it. (She ended with a cover of some song by someone else. I'd never heard of the person or the song, and both have exited my mind. It was...she sings beautifully, so it was beautiful, but the lyrics did not impress me. It was a weak song compared to the one she'd just done before, to my mind.)
Then Marc came on. Getting to hear Marc Cohn was kind of a random bonus that I wasn't sure was a bonus, because I don't know his work well enough to be a fan, really. Or very much of it at all. I know there are people reading this who like him and would have loved to be there for this, but I also know my taste in music is touchy, so I went in pretty much of the mindset that "hey, I'll see what I think."
Initially, my impression was not good. On the first three or four songs he did, either he was hard to understand (compared to Suzanne, he sounded like he was mumbling his lyrics) or the lyrics sounded terribly banal and boring to me. The instrumental work was gorgeous - and loud. I was halfway back the concert lawn and if they'd been just slightly louder, I'd have gotten up and removed myself further, in spite of the annoyance it would have caused for tons of people (I was also dead center and would have had to work my way out, which would have sucked).
Fortunately, they weren't just slightly louder. I was determined to stay, and I'm glad that I was, because he hit a song called "Old Soldier" then and that, I liked, and I understood the people who like his work. It was the song I liked best from his portion of the concert, in the end, as well as the first one I liked at all. I think this is as much because it was the only one where I truly was able to understand all the lyrics as anything else, although some that I could get the lyrics on I was not real impressed by. I know he sang Already Home, Ghost Train, Let Me Be Your Witness, Paper Walls, Perfect Love, The Calling, True Companion, and Walking In Memphis.
I'd like to point out that I had to browse his site to create that list, and that in many cases I could not understand the lyrics. He was good overall, but not nearly as good as Suzanne was. (And I don't really like True Companion and Walking In Memphis when they're performed and phrased as he did them tonight, I discovered, even though I do like those songs. And no, I did not associate them with his name before tonight.)
Tired, now. Off to bed. But it was a good time and a good concert. And I adore Suzanne Vega's music, but this is not news, I don't think.
Suzanne was on first and she was just beautiful to listen to. I went to the concert to hear her, after all, and I wasn't disappointed. She sang (NOT in this order) the Queen and the Soldier, Marlene on the Wall, Left of Center, Rosemary, (I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May, Tom's Diner, In Liverpool, Caramel, Luka, Blood Makes Noise, Penitent, When Heroes Go Down, Some Journey, and Gypsy. She also sang a new song (new as in penned recently and she still brings the lyrics on stage and claims to worry about remembering them) about a root-bound plant. I suspect it is, like some of the others, one that will have to grow on me (which I suppose is a bad pun in this case). I had not heard Rosemary before, which was her next-to-last piece and I loved it. (She ended with a cover of some song by someone else. I'd never heard of the person or the song, and both have exited my mind. It was...she sings beautifully, so it was beautiful, but the lyrics did not impress me. It was a weak song compared to the one she'd just done before, to my mind.)
Then Marc came on. Getting to hear Marc Cohn was kind of a random bonus that I wasn't sure was a bonus, because I don't know his work well enough to be a fan, really. Or very much of it at all. I know there are people reading this who like him and would have loved to be there for this, but I also know my taste in music is touchy, so I went in pretty much of the mindset that "hey, I'll see what I think."
Initially, my impression was not good. On the first three or four songs he did, either he was hard to understand (compared to Suzanne, he sounded like he was mumbling his lyrics) or the lyrics sounded terribly banal and boring to me. The instrumental work was gorgeous - and loud. I was halfway back the concert lawn and if they'd been just slightly louder, I'd have gotten up and removed myself further, in spite of the annoyance it would have caused for tons of people (I was also dead center and would have had to work my way out, which would have sucked).
Fortunately, they weren't just slightly louder. I was determined to stay, and I'm glad that I was, because he hit a song called "Old Soldier" then and that, I liked, and I understood the people who like his work. It was the song I liked best from his portion of the concert, in the end, as well as the first one I liked at all. I think this is as much because it was the only one where I truly was able to understand all the lyrics as anything else, although some that I could get the lyrics on I was not real impressed by. I know he sang Already Home, Ghost Train, Let Me Be Your Witness, Paper Walls, Perfect Love, The Calling, True Companion, and Walking In Memphis.
I'd like to point out that I had to browse his site to create that list, and that in many cases I could not understand the lyrics. He was good overall, but not nearly as good as Suzanne was. (And I don't really like True Companion and Walking In Memphis when they're performed and phrased as he did them tonight, I discovered, even though I do like those songs. And no, I did not associate them with his name before tonight.)
Tired, now. Off to bed. But it was a good time and a good concert. And I adore Suzanne Vega's music, but this is not news, I don't think.
