Such an exquisite joy: Sinead O’Connor in Dublin’s beautiful Olympia Theatre for the homecoming last gig of a long tour. Excitement and expectation made the atmosphere electric. In typical gender-bending style, Sinead took the stage in a man’s suit, shirt and shoes, and launched into a spellbinding version of ‘Never Get Old’.
What followed was spine-tingling heaven. Sinead’s voice and the band, honed from months on the road, are at the absolute peak of their powers. Lots of fans I spoke to afterwards felt they’d never heard Sinead sound better. An artist in her prime, she brought massive doses of new strength, purity and high octane power to her well-chosen repertoire. The songs she picked were mainly retrospective, and it was breathtaking to hear her world-famous melodies and lyrics – some written when the now 41-year-old was a young teenager – performed with such freshness and verve. ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, ‘Stretched On Your Grave’, ‘Jerusalem’, ‘Last Day Of Our Acquaintance’, ‘Thank You For Hearing Me’, ‘In This Heart’, ‘Nothing Compares To You’ and the rest lifted the audience into rapture.
After a traditional Irish start, Sinead played a couple of songs from Theology, her latest album. ‘Dark I Am Yet Lovely’, ‘If You Had A Vineyard’ and ‘Something Beautiful’ were utterly divine, the latter’s closing repeated refrain of ‘days with number’ imparting a blissful sense of peaceful eternity to every heart.
Sinead has the ability, like no other singer, to make the hairs on your body stand on end and tears spring to your eyes. Judging by her latest recordings, this concert and her fans’ massive appreciation, Sinead’s only really starting.
What a diva!