Suzanne Vega enchants in Bruges decor
Due to the covid vicissitudes, the concert of Lou Reed’s former close girlfriend was postponed two years in a row. It was already sold out in 2020 and this edition the seated public logically filled the entire courtyard of the Gruuthuse Palace. At the partly free city festival Moods! the visitors had paid on Wednesday evening to hear the resounding name Suzanne Vega up close. Peter took a front row seat and had therefore been looking forward to the concert of the singer-songwriter from New York for a long time. “The lyrics, the vocals and her guitar. That’s what she does it with and it shows wonderfully,” he says.
storyteller
Vega did not keep the spectators waiting and already fired off classics ‘Marlene on the wall’ and ‘Luka’ at the beginning of the performance. On a balmy summer evening, the culture lovers lost their minds and the American expressed that the popular start was a conscious choice. “That way you are immediately put at ease and not nervous,” she joked with those present. “I also prefer that Bob Dylan, for example, plays his old songs first when I go to his concert.” She told stories with her music, but also in between how she learned a few sentences of Dutch and has strong memories of Bruges because her boyfriend at the time had a heart attack there.
Under the tower of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, residents of Bruges and others welcomed Suzanne Vega’s sweet voice with loud applause. The disarming beauty of the surrounding architecture reinforced her soft songs. Patrick Keersebilck, who participates in the cultural event as director of the Cactus Music Center, testified that Moods! bet on that mix. “We want to make a combination between two things: on the one hand bringing a number of artistically interesting groups or projects to Bruges and on the other hand presenting them within that typical Bruges framework.” Between 9.30 pm and 11 pm it turned out to be a success formula, because Suzanne Vega elicited two standing ovations from the audience.