Suzi Quatro - Archway Tavern, London (UK) - 21 October 2016

Yes, Suzi Quatro – Rock legend – was in Archway Tavern recently reciting poetry and looking fabulous. You would guess she's in her forties and she's still wearing a leopard coat when she arrives. Rather appropriately, as a pioneer for women in Rock 'n' Roll, she follows an all-female bill of poets and is not upstaged by an attention grabbing set from main support Salena Godden about "doing what the fuck you want with your vagina". Quatro has always done so (check her great biography 'Unzipped') and so takes the situation in her stride.

In fact, what the evening reveals is the cerebral side to Suzy Q. She was given an honorary doctorate of music recently in Cambridge, having written poetry since she was a small girl and although numerous poems have been made into song lyrics, she also calls herself poet as well as song-writer. Tonight marks the publication of her book of poems 'Through My Eyes – Poetry And Reminiscences'. The poetry is exclusively biographical and in the book she explains most of her poems with notes and photographs. If you have read her biography it is very easy to understand the meaning. She wears her heart on her sleeve.

And so the highlight of the evening was Suzi Quatro reading out her poems giving them living, breathing form. As with her book on poetry, whilst she has a wild side, the poems reveal that she takes her Catholic faith and family seriously and thinks deeply about the consequences of everything she does, making her less wild than the leather cat suit might suggest, but certainly as the stanzas suggest not tamed. The poems are mainly about her personal relationships with her mother, her best friend, her children, her lovers and her husbands. She is also happy to answer questions about her career this evening and reveals she is a Nirvana fan, that she will release new music in 2017 (recorded with Andy Scott of Sweet and Don Powell of Slade assisted by Mike Batt's orchestration) in tandem with a "second final" tour including six new original songs and a number of covers including Bob Dylan's 'Just Like A Woman' and that a DVD will come out next year about her career. She graciously stays behind for book signing and photographs before she sweeps off in her leopard coat leaving the audience open mouthed. Now, THAT doesn't happen very much in Archway!

Dawn Osborne