Saturday, February 28,2015
Perth Concert Hall
The heavily tattooed and recently shaved Sinead O’Connor lead her band onto the stage, greeted all with her broad Irish brogue and kicked into a light-hearted yet polished take on John Grant’s The Queen Of Denmark. O’Connor gave her new album I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss a fair airing with tunes like Take Me To The Church being far more impressive in the live format. All five members of the band offered harmonies to lift the tune to stadium level proportions.
After bigger pop moments like The Wolf Is Getting Married got the crowd on side, O’Connor showed off a different side of her world class voice by walking through a tender a capella In My Heart with Brooke Supple and Clare Kenny joining arms with the singer and bringing tight voices to the chorus. Dismissing the band for a moment, O’Connor mesmerised with Black Boys On Mopeds, before lightening the mood by picking her nose, joking about getting a bum lift.
Next to the only misfire of the night was Thank You For Hearing Me, which was overpowered by programmed beats and was only given some soul when O’Connor faltered and lead a chorus of ‘sorry I forgot the fucking the words.’ For an artist who has so much to say about many topics, the fact she can also have obvious moments where she doesn’t take herself seriously is heartening.
O’Connor was dressed far more casually than the band in her t-shirt with a map of Ireland front and centre and a pair of jeans and moved on stage like a caged animal, but when you have a powerhouse voice like hers, you clearly get to make all the rules. The Healing Room was dedicated to her soon to be born grandchild, before a huge and euphoric Emperor’s New Clothes was unloosed. Finishing with another hit, The Last Day Of Our Acquaintance, brought as many smiles from the band as it did the rapt audience.
Returning to the stage with keyboardist and long time collaborator Graham Henderson, it dawned on O’Connor that she had forgotten to introduce the band. After admitting it was the third show in a row this had happened and calling herself a selfish narcissistic bitch, she made a joke at Madonna’s expense and made her way through an intimate version of Streetcar. Strapping on her guitar, O’Connor finished on Nothing Compares 2 U, a hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck rendition for the MTV generation.
CHRIS HAVERCROFT
