LIVE REVIEW: SUZANNE VEGA @ THE FORTITUDE MUSIC HALL 12/09/26

Words by Cecilia Pattison-Levi Photos

Suzanne Vega is one of the world’s best songwriters. It’s pretty much irrefutable that she is largely responsible for re-igniting the singer-songwriter movement for a new generation of music listeners (especially for Gen-Xers like me) in the late 1980s. She is my generation’s Joni Mitchell. I adore her songwriting style and delivery.

Now 40 years into her career, Suzanne Vega commenced the first leg of her Australian Flying With Angels Tour with a sold-out concert at the Fortitude Valley Music Hall in Brisbane. It was her first visit back to Australia since 2018. It was seated. And after a huge week I was grateful for about five minutes until she started performing. We should stand when in the presence of someone so gifted. On this tour, she has brought her long-serving guitarist, Gerry Leonard, and cellist Stephanie Winters to assist in delivering both her intimate folk-pop sound and her rock with electronic dance music songs.

Suzanne Vega’s setlist is like a chocolate box selection of hits and fan-favourites from across her career. I also note that the wonderful album ‘Nine Objects Of Desire’ turned 30 years old yesterday and was hopeful of at least a song from it being played tonight. We got it! I do have to warn readers and fans that the setlist she delivered was not the same as the setlist from the gig or what is published online. She changed it once she realised the devotion level in the crowd to perform more of her rock songs from the ‘99.9F°’ album.

Suzanne Vega opened the evening with the exquisite acoustic melody of ‘Marlene On The Wall’ from her debut album. Gerry Leonard supported her sound with his guitar and his one-man effects box, conjuring a thrumming bass sound, percussion, loops of drums to create rhythms and synth keyboards. His underscoring work was there for the next song, and one of my personal favourites, the crunchy rocker ‘99.9F°’, before the next song, ‘Caramel’ hit.

Three songs in and I was hit by a wave of nostalgia. The angels were certainly flying. Suzanne Vega’s ageless voice was in fine form, as was her quirky storytelling. The performance, with 100s of amazing songs to choose from her back catalogue, meant that a set had to satisfy the singer, the audience and to play newer material. As Suzanne Vega jokingly said: “songs you know and songs we know too.”

Suzanne Vega spoke about ‘Gypsy’ and her very first summer romance when she was the folk singing and disco dance counsellor and he was the arts and crafts counsellor of a nearby boys’ camp from her 1987 ‘Solitude Standing’ album. ‘The Queen and the Soldier’ was well received as the “longest and saddest” song of the night. It was at this point that the strings and the small bodhran drum were provided beautifully by Stephanie Winters as she came to the stage to assist the performance.

Then, the “faster and rockier” Elvis Costello appreciation mash-up of ‘When Heroes Go Down / Lipstick Vogue’ was delivered with full ‘Pump It Up’ attitude. It was wonderful to hear Suzanne Vega honour other significant songwriters. Elvis Costello (Declan MacManus) is another of the world’s best songwriters and poets. Then, we got to hear the new material from the ‘Flying With Angels’ album released in 2025.

Suzanne Vega’s new album is another great collection of songs and poems. But she chose only three songs to introduce to the audience. These songs sat alongside the classic hits just fine, but listeners should get the album and pay attention to the punk adjacent ‘Rats’ and the album highlights ‘Witch’, ‘Alley’ and ‘Love Thief’, as these songs were not performed tonight and (for me) are the album’s absolute high points, along with the three songs included tonight.

There was the performance of the title track ‘Flying With Angels’, that speaks of angelic intervention when things go wrong in care giving situations: “Glad I’m not flying all alone” as the angels have your back. And then the magnificent ‘Speakers’ Corner’ about the traditional spot for public oratory. The lyrics warn of the dangers of misinformation and the curbing of free speech that seem to be happening in the age of social media and Trump-era America. Suzanne Vega said she wrote the song two years ago and was concerned that it wouldn’t “hold up” by the time the album was complete.  Needless to say, it most certainly holds up to anything she’s ever done.  Personally, I’m glad it’s included in the set and on the album. It’s a complete winner.

She followed it with the song ‘Chambermaid’. She explained that the song is a double-edged homage to the classic Bob Dylan song ‘I Want You’ and that she subverted it. She retells the story from the viewpoint of the chambermaid as she echoes Bob Dylan’s early 1970s sound. At the end of the song, she told the audience her reminiscence of playing with Bob Dylan in Norway and his request to “see her again”, and stealing a kiss from him. And that she has never “seen him since”, but “he knows where to find her” as the magnificent ‘Left of Center’ was delivered and it made my heart glad. It was another absolute highlight.

Then, what made Suzanne Vega so real was the next two songs about her family and the song to her daughter about her fashion choices, ‘I Never Wear White’, which was an explanation in song about her gift and the reality of what happens to you when you become someone’s mother, even if you are famous and from New York. The lovely ‘Some Journey’ fills in that world changing event.

Then, the guitar riff for ‘Luka’ echoed around the venue. I know the song was a massive smash hit and one of the top 100 singles of the 1980s and never fails to give me chills. It is a song of small tragedy and human cruelty – its heartbreaking and so hard to listen to – if you love lyrical song writing. I have never understood the songs mass appeal, but it was a huge moment for the audience. I just try not to cry.

Then, she deviated from the setlist and played her huge hit and much sampled song ‘Tom's Diner’. Well, I was up on my feet and so were her true fans as we flocked to the front of the stage to dance and sing along. I think then she realised that this was a different, more adoring and active fan base with the whooping, the calls of the fans’ adoration and the desire to dance and sing with her – none of this chair sitting and proper concert behaviour. It was loud and Brisbane!

There was a short break as Suzanne Vega, Gerry Leonard and Stephanie Winters left the stage. But the call outs for an encore were loud and the three of them returned quickly. The mood had changed and Suzanne Vega said: “Well. I was hoping to get you up on your feet but you are already there.” Then, she said “Let’s play a love song to New York” as she started with a cover of Lou Reed’s amazing ode to New York ‘Walk On The Wild Side’, as she stamped her signature style onto it. Awesome!

Then, she decided to play two of my most favourite songs by her, the wonderful ‘Blood Makes Noise’ and then, to close out the evening, she performed the amazing ‘In Liverpool’ and there was one happy fan, in songwriting appreciation heaven! I was only made happier still when she gave me the setlist at the end.

I didn’t want her performance to end and either did the other fans. Suzanne Vega is a singular talent. Her new songs are vital and so good. Frankly, if you love alternative rock, you would be wise to add ‘Speaker’s Corner’, ‘Witch’ and ‘Alley’ to your playlists.

PS. 4ZZZ if you are reading this review, please do Brisbane fans “a favour” and play these songs. The next generation need to hear them and be inspired by how real songwriting should be created and sound.