SUZANNE Vega will be sharing her musical life with fans when she comes to Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall next weekend.

For in the show, she will celebrate the 30th anniversary of her album Solitude Standing and the 25th anniversary of 99.9F by performing both of them in their entirety.

Solitude Standing which featured songs such as Luka and Tom’s Diner was the album which brought her to the attention of music fans in the UK - and they have stayed with her ever since.

“It’s going to be very special doing this tour,” she said. “We did Solitude Standing five years ago then realised this year it’s the 25th anniversary of 99.9F so I thought, why not do both?

“They are really contrasting albums. Solitude Standing is the more classic one and 99.9F is the edgier one.”

Heading back to albums which were recorded so long ago doesn’t phase Suzanne in the slightest.

“I think it’s important to keep the aesthetic of both albums,” she said. “Both use a certain amount of technology, especially 99.9F which had loops and distortion, so it’s not just going to be the band playing the songs in a straightforward way.

“Also it is not going to be just like sitting down and listening to the CD. I figured we will probably open up the arrangements to some degree so that we keep the aesthetic of both albums but reinterpret them to some degree.”

Suzanne said that she has always liked to experiment with her music.

“I’ve always liked to do that,” she said, “Even with my first album. If you go back and listen to that, it wasn’t the folkie album that people remember it as. It was mixture of acoustic guitar and electronics and other sounds.”

In looking at her career, Suzanne said: “I think I have always had a sense of perspective about my music.

“Even though Solitude Standing was only my second album I had been working really hard as songwriter for 13 years. I’d been writing songs very seriously since I was 14 and had been working on my craft all that time. So I wasn’t as new as I seemed to be.

“But it’s all worked out for the best. I feel like I have had a long and fruitful career and done exactly what I wanted to.”

When it was released, 99.9F caused quite a stir as it was so radically different from her earlier albums.

Some of that sound, she reveals, can be put down to an Indian politician’s PA system!

“Part of the fun of it was working with Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake on the 99.9F album,” she said, “as they had really great imaginations.

“Tchad had just been to India and he came back with a sound system used by politicians there. They would drive around in their cars and make speeches using it.

“He was enamoured with it somehow he brought it to the studio and that’s what some of the vocals were run through.

“Now of course, we are going to have to try and reproduce that sound. It won’t be quite the same but will have the spirit of the original.”

Although revisiting two albums doesn’t make Suzanne feel nostalgic, preparing for the tour certainly has.

“Because I sing the songs so often, for the most part it doesn’t really throw me back in time,” she said.

“But I went through my old clippings because we are putting together a special programme for the tour and that really did take me back. But the music itself, because I live with it and tour so often and sing most of those songs is just part of my life.”

As well as bringing classic albums to her fans in the UK, Suzanne also revealed another reason why she’s delighted to be touring again.

“I always know that I can get a great cup of tea,” she laughed.

Suzanne Vega, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, Saturday, September 30. Details from 0161 907 9000 or www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk