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June 23rd 1998 USA, San Diego (CA) Humphrey's Double concert with Chieftains

Emperor's New Clothes
You Made Me the Thief of your Heart
I am Stretched on your Grave
Jackie
Nothing Compares 2U
Thank you For Hearing Me
In this Heart
Fire on Babylon
The Last Day of Our Acquaintance

The Foggy Dew (during the Chieftains concert)

by; RudyDiaz

The venue is a restaurant bar located on Shelter Island. During the summer there are concerts held on their horseshoe-shaped lawn behind the restaurant. The lawn is maybe 45 feet wide and 100 feet deep, so the seating lends itself to intimate shows I am told. Tonight was the first time I saw Humphrey's and I was impressed with its small size. I was told that there was seating for only 1200. The stage was about 3 feet high and only 6 feet from the first row. My position was on row 8 and I was about 20 feet from Sinead so I had a great view without having to crane my neck. To the right of the audience is a marina full of boats and yachts. For the concert the waterway next to the stage was stuffed with small boats and inflatables full of people that were positioned close together like a big pontoon. During the break before Sinead came on I looked down to see maybe 60 people bobbing up and down in the water, waiting for the music to start. On the other side of the stage was decorated with palm trees, ferns, rhododendrons, and a cascading waterfall with pools. I suppose the motif was a California-style Japanese garden because along with the carp in the pools there was a family of ducks. The sun went down behind the coastal hills on a typical June San Diego evening. Blue sky with wisps of clouds on the horizon, warm afternoon temps becoming sort of crisp at dark. As the audience filled in, waitresses in tight shorts and white tank tops came around to take your order of appetizers and all manner of drinks from espresso to scotch to a variety of beers. Sinead was supposed to come on at 7:30. To warm people up a band from Newfoundland named "Great Big Sea" did a set of six or seven songs. They sounded like the Eighties band- Big Country- strong vocals, 4 part harmonies, a lot of energy, but more acoustic with the use of accordions and violins. They finished at 7:28 and it took about 15 minutes to get the stage set up for Sinead. I milled around and quaffed a few pints. The audience mix was 85% Chieftains/15 % Sinead fans. With concert tickets at $50 this wasn't surprising. The older crowd dressed a lot like the Chieftains dress onstage. I swear the median age must have been about 50! This was immediately apparent as soon as Sinead came on. She opened with"Emperor's New Clothes" and there was very little audience reaction. I was rocking but the older fans sort of politely watched. Last year I saw Sinead at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles where she was the sole performer and she gave a moving performance to an enraptured audience. At Humphrey's with a audience of mixed fans she appeared restrained. Still, she looked fantastic- short hair and an outfit of loose grey pants and matching top with a wide black belt. She seemed a bit wan and pale. She definitely looked like a European from Europe and not a transplant. On drums was her husband John Reynolds. It looked like the same players as last year sans the Screaming Orphans. What a shame because they sounded so good backing Sinead with a wall of voices in synch with hers. At the end of the song Sinead moved to the back of the stage just as she was singing the words "You asked for the truth..." and she caught John's eye and put particular emphasis in the words "and I TOLD YOU.." She smiled and turned back to the audience. She ended the song with the ending that goes "there's no life for you" The audience clapped when she finished. Still she responded with a HUGE Thank You in that high voice she uses. Next was "You Made Me the Thief of your Heart" The lighting people put a big white light on her and you could see her nails were painted in a dark glossy shade of red. She wore a wedding band that I didn't remember from last year. She kept her eyes closed for most of the song but halfway through she opened her eyes and looked around. She smiled and waved at people in the back. She introduced " I am Stretched on your Grave" by saying it was dedicated to any dead people who may be present in the audience. Then I think she said words to the effect that the band believed in reincarnation and that it was good to be down here because up there there were no cigarettes and other fun such things... She sang the song slowly almost in a deadpan. (During the Year of the Horse tour video she danced during the instrumental portion of this song and sang it with pain and pathos) This time she took during the instrumental potion of the song she sort of casually got a drink of water. I was surprised when she did the next song- Jackie O- and it was a fantastic!! As soon as I recognized it I yelled and people around me looked at me like I was disturbed. This was the highpoint of her set thusfar. She screamed, yelled and did all the things that she is so good at doing. What was great was that she looked happy doing it. From there she rolled into Nothing Compares 2U. She opened with the backing of only a guitar and unlike the other songs she looked at the audience the whole song. On the second verse, the rest of the band came in, but still it was so different. Gone was the grief and pain in her voice. With the backing of the cello and the maturity of her years, the song is more about sorrow and lovelessness than about angst. The whole meaning of the song seemed different- as if after all the years she really meant to say that EVERYTHING COMPARES 2U. The crowd knew the song but there was no group singing in unison that you would expect from a more sympathetic crowd to Sinead. The energy came back to her when she did Thank you For Hearing Me, In this Heart, and Fire on Babylon. It is amazing to hear her live. I had a good time, but I looked around and saw some Sinead fans rocking but the older crowd who were there to just see the Chieftains were just sort of politely tapping their feet. The comical highlight of the evening was during Sinead's last song- The Last Day of Our Acquaintance," when she got to the words " two years ago there just seemed so much more and now i don't know what happened to our love" Just as she seemed so serious, when she got to the words "what happened to our love" she looked up and quickly bent her neck and moved her hand up as if she was pulling up on a noose and made this funny expression with her tongue poking out of her mouth. All this happened in a split second and she went back to the song. I almost died laughing... The audience called her back for an encore. She asked if there were any Irish out there and she dedicated "She Moved Through the Fair" to them. It was a beautiful vocal performance. When she finished she took bouquets of flowers and signed one autograph before departing. I stayed through the Chieftains (they got thunderous applause compared to Sinead) to hear her do "The Foggy Dew"with the Chieftains and John Reynolds on percussion. Methinks she had a pint of Guinness or two during the break because she began to sing before the flute intro and had to say oops. The interplay with the Chieftains was like magic. As she sang she seemed to be taking cues from Paddy Maloney and the rendition was visceral. I could see the battlefields and the blood flowing on the ground. The combination of Sinead's voice and all those traditional instruments being played live with such virtuosity made the song seem alive with emotion