back to concerts-list | back to discography

July 18th 1998, Switserland, Bern

Set-list:

Emperor
Thief
Stretched
John I Love You
Nothing Compares
Emma's Song
Rebel Song
Thank You For Hearing Me
In This Heart
Babylon
Last Day

ENCORE
Redemption Song
She Moved Through The Fair

Picture about twenty thousand Swiss on a hill top ( mountain?) above Berne. They are there for a Festival for the weekend. A lot of them are there for the whole weekend and are camped out. There are two stages, one in a tent and a dance tent as well for those who want to party between bands. Lots of stalls selling food, beer and the usual trinkets that appear at every festival I have ever been to ( it must be the same people selling it ). There is a tent next to the one selling CDs of the artists with a couch and a blackboard with a schedule of artists who will be signing autographs. There is a roped off queueing area. Sinead's name is on the board but the time has been scrubbed off. She doesn't come. I wouldn't either.
It's eleven at night and it's been a long hot day. Sinead comes on but it quickly becomes apparent that she's not the most popular artist in Switzerland: not that they hate her, just that they are not particularly into her music. Sinead and band give a seven and a half out of ten performance : average for the tour I would think,( nobody seems uncomfortable on the stage) but not the heights she sometimes scales.
Emma's song sounds a little uncomfortable with Justin Adams playing acoustic guitar instead of Sinead playing it herself. John I Love You sounds a bit tentative: it seems not to have been played for a while.( I don't remember it from any U.S. reviews ) It is not until In This Heart that the audience wakes up finally. Everyone goes completely bananas. The set finishes well with a fairly extended end section of Fire On Babylon and a solid rendering of Last Day of Our Acquaintance.
We all cheer, Sinead leaves the stage only to return soon after to sing Redemption Song and She Moves Through the Fair. She sings quietly, everyone listens. It's dark, there is a cable car down the mountain ( I've decided it's a mountain) and a big queue.