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Review; Sinead Concert April 12th 1997

From: "Mandy Green" <Mandy-Green@psion.com>

Hi everyone

Well, let me just say that Saturday 12th April 1997 has to rate as my best birthday ever...for the simple reason than the truly awesome Ms O'Connor was performing on that very night in all her glory at the Barbican Hall on London's South Bank!! I had an excellent seat - 4th row from the stage - and could hardly sit still...

I wasn't sure what to expect - Donal Lunny came on to the stage and he and his band opened with three Irish reels which set the tone of the night - then on came Naimee Coleman to sing 2 numbers. (I worried that Sinead would only perform 2 songs...but was reassured by a woman sitting to my right who works for Sinead - she said that she'd be on in the second half and that she was definitely going to be on stage for quite a while). Next up was Sharon Shannon, then Mary Black who sung 2 traditional Irish songs. Donal and his band then performed another three or four reels. After the interval on came Brian Kennedy - he sang about 5 songs and duetted on Paul Brady's "I Will Be There" with Mary from her album "Shine"...then it was finally time to see Sinead - she'd been standing at the side of the stage watching the show...at this point I would like to reassure everyone who couldn't make it to London that the entire show was filmed (I have no idea if or when it will be aired...) Anyway, back to Sinead...up she stepped onto the stage to the most welcoming, warming, heartfelt cheers I've ever witnessed - it had been a long time coming. Appearances first...she still has that short cropped Winona Ryder hairstyle (ie no dreadlocks!!), she is as tiny as ever (!), had the biggest, cutest grin on her face the whole time :-), and wore a long, pink silk dress with mandarin collar and large chunky sandals...she opened her set with 3 songs from the forthcoming Gospel Oak :- "This Is To Mother You", "I Am Enough", and "4 My Love" - she then went on to some traditional Irish music saying, "I know, I know, it's supposed to be Oirish!!" So, in order to please, she went on to sing the truly amazing "He Moved Through The Fair" (this, btw, is only available on the soundtrack to "Michael Collins", as far as I know...), you could feel the effect that the power and range of her voice had on everyone in the audience - the atmosphere was electric!! I'm afraid I don't know the title of the next traditional number that she performed (anyone else know ??) - it was the story of an Irish factory worker struggling to make ends meet...Sinead then left the stage :-( but reappeared again to sing "On Raglan Road" with Mary Black, Brian Kennedy and Naimee - Sinead opened the song and forgot the words to the first line - this was endearing in the extreme as she cracked the hugest grin and carried on...and ended her set with another new song - she announced this by saying that "a while ago U2 had written the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday" proclaiming that it was NOT a rebel song - well, I wrote this song especially for tonight - and it IS a rebel song"...again, I don't know the title - if I was to make a stab, I'd say it might be called "My Hard Englishman" - from what I heard I guess you could liken it to "Black Boys On Mopeds Part 2" - for want of a better reference...(note; this song is entitled; "This Is A Rebel Song")

Phew - it was soooo good seeing her again - and to see her enjoying herself so much after all the crap she'd had to endure in recent years - she looked happy - and so did I.

Just waiting for the EP now...and hoping Sinead plans to headline again in London this Summer - I'll keep you informed.

Bye Mandy

I forgot to mention Sinead's irey-land anecdote...in between songs she told the story of a Jamaican friend who thought that Sinead was from a place called "Ireyland" and how she was amused by that thought - and that in her opinion maybe Ireland should be renamed Ireyland because of the irey-people...

that's all :-) Mandy