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Sinead Live Providence June 17th 1997

Setlist;
The Emperor's New Clothes
You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart
I Am Stretched on Your Grave
A Perfect Indian
This IS a Rebel Song
John I Love You
This Is to Mother You
Petit Poulet
That You for Hearing Me
In This Heart
Fire on Babylon
The Last Day of Our Acquaintance
I Am Enough for Myself
He Moved Through the Fair

From: Brian Fumo <bjf@usa.net>

It was basically one rather dingy and SMOKY seatless theater in which as many people as possible crush together near the stage (unless you were up in the balcony). That's minor compared to the sound, which I thought was turned up so staggeringly loud that it tended to alternately distort the singer and drown them out. This seemed true of both Sinead and the especially loud opening act. It seemed also that she really had to belt out every song, even the quiet ones, possibly to be heard above the instrumentation (I thought it was a little ironic when she motioned to someone offstage to turn up her mike as she sung "Thank you for hearing me"). Still, it was a visceral experience, and somehow she looked a lot different to me than she did even on Letterman recently.

By ANDY SMITH

Journal-Bulletin Pop Music Writer

Irish singer Sinead O'Connor's music has taken a turn toward reconcilation and forgiveness in her most recent work, particularly her new six-song disc The Gospel Oak. But even though she has tempered some of her old ferocity, she is still a charismatic singer who feels deeply about things that matter to her, whether it's motherhood or Ireland. O'Connor came to the Strand in downtown Providence Tuesday night, performing a 70-minute show that emphasized her new material. O'Connor did not even do her biggest hit, 1990's Nothing Compares 2 U, which had some fans a little testy. While the performance as a whole didn't have the anger and intensity of her earlier work, there was nevertheless a more contented energy. Her career has been accompanied by controversy -- remember when she tore up a picture of the Pope? -- but she barely spoke to her adoring audience at the Strand, so she didn't generate any news on that score. Her voice was surrounded by synthesizers, a cello and four female backup singers who provided a lush, choral effect. O'Connor's singing can still generate a piercing, keening power, but she also used a more understated approach, particularly on her new songs. Wearing a long white top and pants, O'Connor appeared almost shy on stage, moving her upper body just a bit or bouncing gently from foot to foot. And, yes, she has hair now. Occasionally she would murmur her thanks, or pause to pick up a bouquet from the stage. She opened with an older song, The Emperor's New Clothes, blending her voice with the harmonies of her backup singers and the ringing guitar riffs. The Celtic sorrow of I Am Stretched On Your Grave was a more telling indicator of O'Connor's talent, opening with her deeply emotional singing over an accordion drone. This IS A Rebel Song, which uses a love affair to describe the relationship between England and Ireland, featured a softer, somewhat breathy vocal from O'Connor, her voice rising on just a few key passages. The hymn-like In This Heart had flat-out gorgeous singing, as O'Connor kept adding more voices -- first her superb backup singers, then bringing out a male singer and two additional female voices -- so that by the end of the song it sounded like God's own choir was on stage. A radical shift in mood was signaled by an announcer's voice that repeated: "This should be played at high volume, preferably in a residential area" as O'Connor & Co. launched into the big beat and sweeping string parts of Fire on Babylon. The Last Day of Our Acquaintance opened with a folkish acoustic strum. Suddenly, O'Connor absolutely nailed a phrase with a banshee wail, and the song took off with a supercharged intensity, complete with a buzzsaw guitar solo. For her encores, O'Connor did a contented I Am Enough For Myself, from her new disc, and closed with a hushed, beautiful version of the traditional Irish song He Moved Through the Fair, with a drone from cello and synthesizer for accompaniment. It grew so that an annoying conversation from a couple in one of the Strand's upper boxes became audible. (Why do people do that?) Even so, the song demonstrated once again the depth of O'Connor's talent, which is sometimes obscured by everything from her hairstyle to her political opinions.