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On this day, 5 June 1987, American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall. Vega had just released her second studio album Solitude Standing.
The album proved to be most commercially successful and critically acclaimed album of Vega's, being certified Platinum in the US and reaching number 11 on the Billboard 200, number 2 in the UK albums chart.
"Tom's Diner" was included twice on the album; the acappella version was the first track, and the instrumental version was the last track. In 1990, a remixed version of the song featuring DNA reached number five in the US. The song was later used to test prototype MP3 compression software.
The album garnered critical and commercial success, selling over one million copies in the U.S. It includes the international hit single "Luka", which is written about, and from the point of view of, an abused child. (Not until many years later did Vega reveal the song dealt with the abuse she herself had suffered from her stepfather.
While continuing a focus on Vega's acoustic guitar, the music of her second album is more strongly pop-oriented and features fuller arrangements. Following the success of the album, in 1989 Vega almost became the first female artist to headline the Glastonbury Festival. Female fronted UK band "All About Eve" headlined on Friday night due to a short notice headline switch. Vega performed her set whilst wearing a bulletproof vest, her band having received death threats from an obsessed fan ahead of the festival.
Setlist
Tom's Diner
Straight Lines
Small Blue Thing
Cracking
Ironbound / Fancy Poultry
Luka
In the Eye
The Queen and the Soldier
Gypsy
Calypso
Undertow
Solitude Standing
Language
Left of Center
Neighborhood Girls
Wooden Horse (Caspar Hauser's Song)
Marlene on the Wall
Night Vision
