NBC Summer Concert Series:
SINEAD O'CONNOR

August 20, 2000

Reviewed by Ben Adams 


I got there a bit after 8, and there were lots of tourists standing around.
It seemed like most of them just wanted to get on TV or something, and
several of them started the usual chatter about the pope, the shaved head,
BLAH BLAH BLAH.... Talk about ruining the spirit of a mini Sinead concert!!!
Anyway, Sinead came out a bit before the set started and signed a few
autographs. Ken gave me a really cool Irish license plate with "MOTHER B"
printed on it, so I had her sign it for me. When she saw it she walked right
over to me and said, Wow, that's cool! Where did you get it? I tried to
explain it to her, but I think both she and I felt self-conscious in front
of all those staring eyes... most of whom had no clue what "Mother B" even
referred to. Anyway, she was very sweet and asked, Who's it to? I said, Ben,
and she wrote "To Ben, Jah Love, Sinead O'Connor". Then she did a little
curtsy for me! It was so nice. I had to push my way to the front to have
this done, and as soon as Sinead walked away, a large boorish tourist lady
squealed, CAN WE HAVE OUR PLACE BACK NOW???? MY DAUGHTER CAN'T SEE!!!!!
[Imagine the most annoyingly whiny, redneck-ish voice you've ever heard in
your life.] After getting their place back, she and her daughter asked some
people standing by them who Sinead O'Connor is. Obviously I was annoyed. Oh
well... at least I still had a good view of the stage. There was a girl
(someone from the list??) standing to the side of the stage, and she had a
big sign that read, "Sinead, you are a goddess," with a star of David on it.
At one point some Atlantic people handed out a few free copies of Faith and
Courage and then instructed Sinead to start signing them!!!!!! Well, I
didn't get one because of the broad who made me move, but several tourists
WHO DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO SINEAD O'CONNOR IS received FREE, SIGNED copies of
Faith and Courage! GRRRRrrrrr!!!!! Anyway, as Sinead was doing this, the
girl adjacent to me started yelling and telling Sinead to go see her. She
hollered, We're true fans.... We already bought the album!!!! Everyone,
including Sinead, laughed, and Sinead finally went over and paid her
respects to this faithful fan. Sinead was wearing some long baggy pants and
the same black leather jacket she had on when I met her in '97. She also had
a big gold cross dangling down to her stomach, and she frequently adjusted
it to make sure it was centered. She was wearing some kind of casual black &
white plastic athletic sandals. I always forget how short she is. It looked
like she had some gel in her hair. ANYWAY, now to the important stuff. She
sang Jealous, Hold Back the Night, and....... (drum roll)...... Make Me a
Channel of Your Peace!!!! It was amazing. Jealous sounded great, and I
*swear* she stared right into my eyes almost the whole time she sang it.
I've heard her say that sometimes she picks someone in the audience and
pretends like she's singing to just that person, and I really felt like she
was doing that to me. Wow.... it totally gave me chills and made my eyes
well up with emotion! I was hypnotized. This is quite a change from the
Gospel Oak tour, where she hardly looked up at all. Hold Back the Night was
the highlight for me. She sang the first part soooooooo softly, and then she
*really* belted out "Do you want to be...." Oh wow.... talk about chills all
over my body!! The song was sooo strong. Lovely performance. Then for the
big surprise. The entire band sat down, and I thought my wish of hearing The
Healing Room might be fulfilled, but then I realized that there wasn't a
SINGLE person besides Sinead standing--not even a keyboard player. And
that's when she did Make Me a Channel of Your Peace a capella. I can't even
describe how perfectly she sang it. I wish she would do all her songs a
capella, or with just a single accompanying instrument (such as the piano in
A Perfect Indian). I thought it sounded much stronger than on the Diana
Tribute album. She held out each line with incredible volume and force. Wow.
It was truly a privilege to be there. Between songs she was her usual silly
self, singing things like "Twist and Shout" into the microphone and making
funny poses onstage. After the last song, she made some comment like, And
it's Sunday, so remember God (or maybe she said Jah)... I didn't hear
exactly what she said, but it was something like that. A homeless man told 
that Sinead started the sound check at 6 a.m., and he could hear her from 
down in the subway. So he came up and had his own private little Sinead 
concert!! If I'd known that, I *might* have gone earlier. I have to confess 
that it was very difficult for me to drag myself out of bed so early this 
morning. I almost considered not going, since I was so extremely tired; but 
I knew that I would regret it if I missed it. Anyway, aside from the snorting,
unappreciative tourists, it was a great experience! I'm guessing she'll do
Jealous and Hold Back the Night on Queen Latifah. That's it for now....

Ben

P.S. The instrumentation on both Jealous and Hold Back the Night was very
Irish... and I thought it sounded better than on the album in both cases!