Suzanne Vega Solitude Standing & 99.9F, The Queens Hall, Edinburgh, August 2018

Suzanne Vega toured both Solitude Standing and 99.9F to mark the 30th and 25th anniversaries of each album. She played both albums in track order back to back.

I have a rule that I sometimes break. That rule is that I don't go and see bands or singers who I should have seen back in their 'heyday'. This concert was an exception I wasn't expecting to make but am so glad I did.

Suzanne Vega is one of those artists who was there in the early eighties and I heard her, I got the literate word play and the arrangements but for some reason I didn't plunge headlong into her music. Probably too busy getting into garage-a-billy at the time.

It turns out though that whether I acknowledged it at the time or not Suzanne's music was there as a backdrop through those years and I realised that at this unexpected gig as she moved through the tracks on these two albums and the recognition level of the tunes and the lyrics was high.

Solitude Standing gives up the gems that are 'Tom's Diner' and 'Luka'. I have a personal memory of that album an album I've never owned. A friend of mine, sadly now passed away, had this album on his car cassette player permanently and I thought of him constantly as the concert proceeded through this familiar sequence of songs.

Vega is an engaging performer and didn't evidence any of the coolness that you might imagine she could exude. Opening the first set as the album does with an acapella version of 'Tom's Diner' is a brave choice and she pulls it off with a bravura and intimacy that set the tone for the rest of the night.

There was a short break between the sets and it was onto a the more electric and muscled sounds of 99.9F - the Suzanne Vega album I do have though its not been listened to in years. It was a revelation as I was surprised how well I remembered the album. 'Blood Makes Noise', 'Fat Man and the Dancing Girl' 'When Heroes go Down' and the sublime 'As Girls Go' were like old friends, familiar but also bright and fresh. 'In Liverpool' was my standout of the night in part because of the back story of the song about a first love and nearly meetings over the years. It was touching and affectionate in the way an old love can be after the passage of time but where there is still a connection to the hearts of both parties.

She finishes of the night with an encore which includes 'Left of Center' another song that seems to have formed part of the soundtrack of my life.

While this was an evening of memories sparked by these wonderful songs it was also an evening that looked to the now and the future as Suzanne Vega still tours and performs songs from her now long career including her more recent album inspired by Carson McCullers 'Lover, Beloved'.

It took me a long time to get to Suzanne Vega live and to reconnect with these wonderful songs but the long road was worth it. Who knows I may break my rule again but then again will my experience be as good as this?

  

Quebec, a realignment of the political landscape?

The recent National Election in Quebec has started a realignment of the politics of identity and sovereignty. That realignment has also seen the common thread of the modern political world - the polarisation of ideology and the rise of both radical left voices and anti immigration platforms.

It is 23 years since the last independence referendum in Quebec and though the possibility of a fresh referendum seems unlikely almost to the point of non existent there are perhaps sign that in the realignment of Quebec politics a fresh self determination seed is being sown that may, in time flower and produce a new modern sovereigntist demand that realises afresh the dreams so narrowly lost a generation ago.

The Quebec elections of 1st October produced a huge shake-up to the political landscape of the nation. For 50 years the leadership of Quebec had pivoted between the Liberal Party of Quebec (the unionists) and the Parti Quebecois (the nationalists). various other minor parties had come and gone in the interim but nothing had broken that duality of political outcomes. Until now that is.

The election broke that mould and there may be no going back. Coalition Avenir de Québec (CAQ) a party formed and led by Francois Legault, himself a former PQ cabinet member is, on the face of it, a nationalist party. However it is avowedly not promising any future referendum on an independent Quebec. CAQ won 74 seats in the National Assembly - a landslide which saw them beat the incumbent Liberals comprehensively. The CAQ surge which had been threatened at previous elections came at the expense of the Parti Quebecois (PQ) who on the day were reduced to a humiliating 9 seats (later rising to 10 through a recount). CAQ also took a strong stance on immigration promising to reduce the number of people coming to Quebec which in the modern age sadly struck a chord with a large chunk of the electorate. 

As the counterpoint to the rise of CAQ the green socialist party Quebec Solidaire (QS) saw a trebling of its seats in the National Assembly to 10 (equal to the PQ). Quebec Solidaire is also a sovereigntist party and is open about independence being best for the future of Quebec. QS have tapped in to the anti neoliberal thread of modern politics to connect with a younger outward looking electorate looking for real change and welcoming of others.

Quebec Solidaire recently entered into a merger with the smaller Option Nationale (ON) a sovereigntist party positioned to the left and also finding support among younger voters. ON joined QS as a platform allowing two of its best performers, its leader Sol Zanetti and artist Catherine Dorion to stand and win in neighbouring seats in Quebec City. The energy within QS at this time must be strong with the success and the engagement of so many more electors looking for something more radical than the centre right neoliberal offered by CAQ and the Liberals. They put forward a platform of hope for the future. Their leader Manon Masse played the election well and comes over as a non politician while getting the politics of the merger and positioning of QS to make the breakthroughs they were looking for. The test for QS in the future will be to break out of the urban areas of Montreal and Quebec City and grow their base.

What of PQ? True they have suffered a huge setback reduced to 10 seats and not qualifying for official recognition in the National Assembly. The party has had a tumultuous time since it was last in power in Quebec as a minority administration, afraid of the independence question and vulnerable to the rise of CAQ. Following its defeat four years ago it changed leaders and veteran Pauline Marois exited with businessman Pierre Karl Peladeau briefly taking over the effect of which seemed to reposition PQ on the right before it then shifted toward the centre left under its next leader Jean-Francois Lisee. He's gone now along with many of their experienced politicians. However if PQ is to be reborn perhaps it needed a cathartic event like this meltdown to shake away any complacency. Recent research into who votes for the PQ showed that the party base support was still the baby-boomers that had supported it from its beginnings and it was failing to attract younger voters. Some analysts said that if the party continued on the trajectory indicated by the research it would eventually cease to exist. However as the PQ deals with its defeat in the election and setback for it as a party it may find that it has some of the younger members it needs to redefine and rebuild. Younger members were successfully elected - Catherine Fournier (who some in Scotland will know from her visit during Indyref) and the victor of the recount Meganne Perry Melancon. The future of PQ could be theirs as a generational shift and a redefinition of their aims for the 21st century is probably exactly what the party needs. It needs to see itself as the future rather than through the prism of the past.

The future of Quebec will be interesting to watch but it is worth saying from a Scottish perspective that in Quebec the aftermath of the failed second referendum has cast a long shadow over the sovereigntist movement, one that perhaps the independence movement here needs to keep in mind when demands arise for an immediate referendum. The cost for calling it wrong could be incalculable.