Sinéad O’Connor has spoken exclusively to Hot Press about a show she was reportedly due to have played on September 11 in Caesarea, a town located half-way between Tel Aviv and Haifa.
“There was an offer which I was only prepared to entertain if Israeli Arabs, Palestinians, whoever, were welcome at the gig,” she explains. “The other acts on the bill also had to be from across all those divides. That was a bit of a hot potato and not settled, when someone who had no business doing so sneakily released the information saying it was confirmed, which it never was. It was conditional on those terms.
“At the same time, musicians are notoriously stupid/ignorant people and I didn’t realise – nor was I told by my booking agent or anyone else – that if I stepped foot there I would in fact be breaking this cultural boycott and may as well be shitting all over the Palestinian people. They were very well aware of the situation but they didn’t fill me in when they were trying to convince me for a year to do the gig.
“Anyway, the next thing I’m the subject of abuse from everybody left, right and centre because I’m somehow sanctioning what’s happening to the Palestinian people – which I’m not. I’m not going to go there because it’s a shithole, but in a way I feel sorry for the young people on each side of the situation who, because of a conflict that they did not cause, cannot have any type of normal life including music and musicians.”
Sinéad says that she objects to being dragged into politics.
“Let’s just say that, on a human level, nobody with any sanity, including myself, would have anything but sympathy for the Palestinian plight. There’s not a sane person on earth who in any way sanctions what the fuck the Israeli authorities are doing.”
The Caesarea gig, had it gone ahead, would have been relatively lucrative for the singer whose I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss album drops on August 8.
“Normally I get paid about ten grand for a gig, this offer was for a hundred grand,” she reveals. “I was refusing and refusing for a year, and a certain amount of pressure was put on me and then it became apparent a few months ago that frankly I could do with the money. We’re all in trouble financially and I’m no different. I had a bit of a worrying meeting with my accountant and afterwards said, ‘Oh fuck it, let’s do this gig’.”
In 1997, O’Connor backed out of the Sharing Jerusalem: Two Capitals For Two States concert after receiving death threats.
“I’ve been accused of somehow being a supporter of the Israeli authorities, which is nonsense – nothing could be further from the truth,” she reiterates. “It was a gig that had been organised by a bunch of Palestinian and Israeli women to campaign for this idea of sharing the place basically, and right-wing Jewish groups threatened to kill myself and my band. I’m not prepared to die for anyone else’s bullshit, nor am I prepared to put my band at risk, so we didn’t go.”
Sinéad did get to perform two gigs in Caesarea in June 1995 when, as she puts it, “There wasn’t a boycott and it wasn’t what you might call ‘a big deal’ and you weren’t fucking anyone over if you went. I actually hated the place so fucking much. I found it one of the most aggressive places I’ve ever been. I still have quite a scar from a photographer shoving his camera right into my chest. It’s the only place I’ve ever been that I never wanted to go back to. Consequentially for the last 25 years whenever anything about Israel came on the news, I’d literally turn it off. As far as I was concerned Israel did not exist. So I didn’t keep up at all with anything that was going on there. It’s just a bad word to me, ‘Israel’.”
We’ll be talking music with Sinéad in our next issue.
For The New Hot Press: Special Prince Collectors' Issue, we dig back through the archives for our revealing interview with Sinead O'Connor, about her upsetting experience at the late singer's mansion.
Read More Her performance will put goosepimples on your goosepimples!
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Sinéad O'Connor to feature alongside Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams and a number of other artist's to contribute newly recorded versions of Blind Willie Johnson tracks on new tribute compilation
Read More The legendary Irish singer is said to be receiving medical treatment, allaying the immediate concerns about her well-being...
Read More The star was baffled when she learnt she had earned a mere €500 for three German shows this summer.
Read More The controversial singer made the announcement in a typically forthright and humorous way on her Facebook page...
Read More She's taking time out to nurse sick son, and requires surgery herself
Read More The controversial star, who last week blasted Kim Kardashian as a ‘cunt’ when she appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, is suffering from exhaustion...
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Taking to social media, the iconic Irish singer launches a blistering assault on the appearance of Mrs Kanye West on the front of Rolling Stone, declaring "music has officially died
Read More With Stephen Rea and Fionnuala Flanagan also on board, the singer is just one of a number of leading Irish artists who will assist the Reclaim The Spirit of 1916 group...
Read More It was 22 years late but Sinead O'Connor and Booker T performed 'I Believe In You' on The Sugar Club stage last night
Read More Just days after rocking the same venue, an April date is scheduled
Read More The singer immediately calls on Sinn Féin leaders to "make 'the supreme sacrifice'" and step down.
Read More Talking to the Daily Mail, Sinead O'Connor said the giveaway wasn't "at all kosher".
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Sinéad O’Connor rocks the clerical dog collar and leather trousers look on the video for her new single, ‘8 Good Reasons’ - eight being the number of eyes that her four children have.
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Sinead O'Connor's most recent album I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss gains a place to reach Number 2 on this week's Indie Album Chart.
Read More Having played an absolute stunner at Electric Picnic, Sinéad O'Connor has confirmed her own headlining visit to Vicar St., Dublin on December 16.
Read More Move over Bruce, there’s a new Boss in town! Having made a NUMBER ONE record that’s as playful as it is deeply personal, an upbeat Sinead O’Connor discusses music, marriage, Miley, Boy George, Lou Reed, Massive Attack and latex fetishwear.
Read More The latest Hot Press cover star is sitting pretty for the second week on top of the Irish Indie Album charts.
Read More The new Electric Picnic previewing issue of Hot Press is in the shops now, with the Stradbally-bound Sinéad O'Connor on the cover.
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Starring Rubberbandits, Sinéad O'Connor, Gold Panda, Manic Street Preachers, Imogen Heap, St. Vincent and... Michael Cera?
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Sinéad takes control on gloriously matriarchal new LP.
Read More I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss is now available to stream online ahead of the official release.
Read More Hot Press is delighted to bring you this first look at the finished video for ‘Take Me To Church’, one of the standouts from Sinéad O'Connor’s I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss album which drops here on August 8 and has been garnering universally positive reviews.
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'Take Me To Church' is the lead angle from I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss.
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'Take Me To Church' is the lead single from I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss.
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Sinéad O’Connor’s new album is to be called I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss – a reference to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s Ban Bossy campaign.
Read More Sinéad O’Connor has reunited with her husband, Barry Herridge, who she broke up with in December 2011 after just 16 days of married life.
Read More The singer bemoans "idiots" complaining about her cancelled shows.
Read More Sinéad O’Connor is one of the high-profile artists ready to leap into studio action if a proposed Blind Willie Johnson tribute album raises the required $125,000 Kickstarter funds by November 16.
Read More Sinéad O’Connor’s online war of words with Miley Cyrus continues to simmer away. Appearing last Friday on the Late Late Show, O’Connor said she wanted an end to the highly publicised spat and the spotlight to be shone instead on the overly-controlling nature of the mainstream music industry.
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Filmmaker and author Jonny Benjamin, who was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in his early 20s, has joined the Sinéad O’Connor/Miley Cyrus debate.
Read More The “lettergate” war of words between Miley Cyrus and Sinéad O’Connor has intensified.
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Miley Cyrus’ supposed admiration for Sinéad O’Connor has taken something of a dark turn.
Read More Sinéad O'Connor has issued an open letter to Miley Cyrus after the younger singer revealed in her Rolling Stone cover story that she's a fan.
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Sinead O'Connor is among the millions – both Catholic and not – reflecting on Pope Benedict's statement this morning.
Read More Twenty years ago, on October 3 1992, Sinead O’Connor ripped up a picture of the Pope on the iconic US television show Saturday Night Live. It was a moment that would change her career – and her life.
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The singer opens up to Hot Press about the infamous 1992 SNL appearance which saw her rip up a picture of Pope John Paul II...
Read More In a new interview in Hot Press, Sinéad O’Connor has revealed completely new facts about the most notorious incident in her career...
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Sinead O'Connor will be a surprise guest at Marlay Park, on August 25th.
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Singer has reversed her decision to retire...
Read More Sinead O'Connor has moved to set the record straight in relation to her split with manager Fachtna O Ceallaigh, who she says was her manager "until two weeks ago."
Read More The singer also appears to have announced her retirement from music.
Read More There will be performances from the likes of Sinead O'Connor and An Emotional Fish.
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With the unpleasant tabloid scrutiny she’s been under recently, it’s easy to forget that Sinéad O’Connor is one of Ireland’s most powerful creative musical forces. Her soon-to-be-released new album, How About I Be Me (And You Be You?), already has critics purring with delight. When Sinéad travelled to the City of Angels to perform at a pre-Golden Globe event, Olaf Tyaransen went with her to report on the latest chapter in her remarkable life.
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Headed up by Sinead O'Connor, 75 newly covered Dylan songs salute Amnesty.
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In an evening of delicious treats, it is especially lovely to be introduced to Roisin, Sinéad’s beautiful daughter, who sings angelic backing vocals.
Read More For too long, Ireland has been pushed around by the international vested interests represented by the EU, the ECB and the IMF. With the dawn of a new year, it is time for us to start fighting back...
Read More Controversial singer meets controversial writer - explosive results guaranteed...
Read More The statement is carried on her website. Here it is in full.
Read More A newly married Sinead O'Connor celebrates in style on the Olympia stage.
Read More It was all about the music at this triumphant gig at the famous Dublin venue
Read More The newlywed has inked a new record deal....
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With a date at the Olympia Theatre looming in December, and a much anticipated album on the way in the new year, these are crucial times for Sinéad O’Connor. In a remarkable interview, she also discusses her search for a man, the lovers she has known, sex, sex – and more sex. Plus: Ireland of the squinting windows and the Catholic Church...
Read More Eleanor McEvoy and Gavin Friday get the thumbs up in the new issue of Hot Press.
Read More It'll be a full band performance in the Olympia on December 18.
Read More The follow-up to Theology will surface next year.
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Sinead O’Connor has called on the Pope to stand down, and the Irish Government to expel the Papal Nuncio.
Read More Mary J. Blige and Santigold are also supporting the project.
Read More Jack L and Mary Coughlan are also appearing in Vince Power's supper club.
Read More Sinéad O’Connor fans will want to invest in Theology: Live At The Sugar Club, a limited-edition deluxe CD/DVD, which is available exclusively from sineadoconnor.com.
Read More Sinead O’Connor has collaborated with former Hot Press scribe John Waters on a charity song that will be released in March.
Read More Having had a whale of a time readying it for the Meteors, Sinéad O’Connor and Republic Of Loose have decided to release their cover of Curtis Mayfield’s ‘We People Who Are Darker Than Blue’.
Read More 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 her sound better.
Read More Sinéad O’Connor was back in the American media spotlight last week when she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Read More The optimistic title of this track almost sets itself up for failure, but in this case ‘Something Beautiful’ is a fitting tribute. This is vintage Sinéad, her distinctive voice still soaring although it sounds more world-weary than before. ‘Something Beautiful’ has a sacred air and the lyrics are laced with religious imagery (befitting of an album named Theology) but it is not so overtly religious that it suffocates the magic.
Read More Sinéad O’Connor drums up trade for her Theology album with a November 18 soiree at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre.
Read More Shane MacGowan interviews Sinead O’Connor for hotpress, with Olaf Tyaransen acting as referee. On the day, Victoria Clark also sat in. What followed turned into a wide-ranging and often hilarious exchange of almost Beckettian dimensions.
Read More With Theology, Sinéad re-invigorates the ancient genre of the hymn in her own inimitable way, and brings it back to a contemporary public.
Read More Sinead O'Connor is to play a special concert in Limerick
Read More Sinéad O’Connor's voice is still capable of enchanting you with its fragility and blowing you away with its power, but maybe we all expected that, because at first it’s the bravely mixed set-list that grabs your attention.
Read More From her forthcoming Theology album, this version of the Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber classic from the Jesus Christ Superstar rock opera almost seems tailor-made for the controversial chanteuse. Originally sung in the musical/movie by Mary Magdalene (expressing her confused feelings for Jesus just before the crucifixion) it was seen as blasphemous in some quarters in its day and even now the lyrics would raise an eyebrow or two. Of course Sinéad sings it beautifully with no little passion while stylistically and sonically it’s the nearest thing she’s done to ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ in ages and could well prove a winner.
Read More Sinéad O'Connor's already gained one celeb fan of her new cover single - legendary composer Tim Rice.
Read More Sinead O'Connor has announced the tracklisting and release date of her new album Theology.
Read More Sinead O'Connor makes her return to the live foray in style - she's set to headline a day of the Heineken Green Energy Festival.
Read More Sinead O’Connor will be releasing two newly recorded songs as a special audio Christmas card on December 15.
Read More The prospect of an intimate evening with Sinead O’Connor, at which she would unveil songs from her new album, was an intrigung one.
Read More After her critically acclaimed reggae album Throw Down Your Arms, the first lady of Irish music is back with a collaboration and her own newie.
Read More Sinead O'Connor isn't exactly one to take things lying down, and some US websites are about to find this out for themselves. In an exclusive chat with Hot Press she puts the story straight and talks about her next album. Only here folks!
Read More The acts for this year's festival plan to attract audiences from all over Ireland.
Read More Having covered two of his songs on her Throw Down Your Arms album, Sinéad O’Connor duets with Lee “Scratch” Perry on the American version of his Panic In Babylon set.
Read More Who’d have bet money on Sinéad O’Connor making such an acclaimed return to music with any album, let alone one made up of old reggae tunes? Still, that’s about the size of it and Untold Stories is one of that particular record’s stand out moments and ironically one of its least dub influenced. Instead, O’Connor focuses on the folk element of Jamaican music to stirring effect and ends up sounding more resonant than we might have reasonably expected. Mighty stuff.
Read More Tonight, from Bob Marley’s ‘War’ to Burning Spear’s ‘Jah Nuh Dead’, Sinéad O’Connor and her sidekicks deliver in spades. On a musical level, the reggae-fuelled set is funky, moving and, above all, inspiring.
Read More Always a spiritual performer, in her new role as preacher of all things Rasta, Sinéad seems to the manor born. The lesson here is that less is more.
Read More Sinéad O’Connor is among the guests on Friday October 21 as Later With Jools Holland returns to BBC 2 for what is remarkably its 26th series.
Read More With characteristic unpredictability, Sinéad has re-emerged after a period in retirement with a Rasta album, in which she covers a collection of her own personal reggae classics.
Read More Proffering a delicious taste of her forthcoming album, Throw Down Your Arms, due for release this autumn, Sinead O’Connor thrilled punters at the Prime Minister’s 2005 Independence Gala in Jamaica with her impassioned version of Bob Marley’s ‘War’, accompanied on drum and bass by famous riddim twins, Sly and Robbie.
Read More As predicted in the last issue of Hotpress, Sinéad O’Connor is touring in support of her new reggae covers album, Throw Down Your Arms.
Read More Sinéad O’Connor has confirmed details of her eagerly awaited reggae covers album, Throw Down Your Arms.
Read More Sinéad O’Connor has confirmed details of her eagerly awaited reggae covers album, Throw Down Your Arms.
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Curator Patti Smith has invited a host of top artists to this year's Meltdown festival
Read More Having recently announced her return to music, Sinead O'Connor will be performing at the New York awards ceremony next week
Read More Sinead O'Connor has announced details of a new collection of collaborative work
Read More Jim Fitzpatrick's nude painting of Sinead O'Connor has sold at auction for €15,000
Read More It's almost two years since Sinead O'Connor announced her retirement from music. However, it was always on the cards that she would find her voice again. The good news is that she has. She explains all in an exclusive interview with Niall Stokes...
Read More "Sinéad was pretty relaxed. She didn’t tap into the ‘making a record for the label’ thing. She made music for her own reasons, which were deeper than that. That’s why the songs ring so true..."
Read More Sick of being the "the whipping post of Ireland's media", Sinead O'Connor has expressed her own sentiments in a recent newspaper advertisement
Read More A worthy buy, indeed, if only for the odd-ball reggae version on the B side.
Read More You've bought her new album, now you can purchase the new DVD - The Value Of Ignorance/The Year Of The Horse is now available in stores
Read More This is a fitting memorial to Sinéad’s relentless struggle to transcend the mundane, the vacuous and the predictable. As a farewell album it’ll do fine until the next one.
Read More The High Priestess of Irish music announces details of a double CD and DVD release prior to her retirement from the music industry
Read More More on why Sinead O'Connor's quitting the music biz, plus her guest appearance with Damien Dempsey
Read More Other Voices: Songs From A Room director Philip King reacts to news of Sinead O'Connor's retirement from public life - and praises "one of the world's very best singers"
Read More In one of the most dramatic developments in Irish music in decades, Sinead O'Connor has said that she will retire from the music business in three months time
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Sinead O'Connor and Damien Dempsey re-live the fairytale on Irish all-star Christmas album It's All Bells
Read More Get set for a v. special V Graham Norton tonight - featuring no less than Sinead O'Connor
Read More Following the runaway success of her nationwide tour, Sinead O'Connor announces a Point Theatre date in January
Read More She looks healthy, rested and fighting fit. Her band, consisting of bass, drums, banjo/whistle, cello, guitar and keyboards/ accordion, look like they’re here for a groove-laden run through some trad tunes, which, it transpires, they certainly are
Read More Sean-Nós Nua, we are told, is the album that she has wanted to make for years
Read More The making of Sean Nos Nua has been captured on film by Bringing It All Back Home Director, Philip King.
Read More Details released about Sinead O'Connor's upcoming Donal Lunny-produced trad album, Sean-nos Nua
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STEVE FARGNOLI, the artist manager who numbered SINÉAD O'CONNOR among his clients, lost his battle with cancer earlier this month. STEPHEN ROBINSON reports
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It s been four years since the last Siniad O Connor album. By any standards, even for a major artist, that s a long time, inevitably heightening speculation about where Siniad s muse was likely to take her.
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Sinead O’Connor: “You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart” (Island)
Read More Sinéad O'Connor's records don't necessarily reveal themselves speedily. I know that, on the first hearing, 'The Lion and the Cobra' seemed to me an ill-fitting match of various discordant styles. I didn't really crack it 'till its sixth time round my turntable.
Read More At the tender age of seventeen, Dubliner Sinéad O'Connor packed up Ton Ton Macoute, packed her bags and headed for London. Two years on she's had a few close shaves, recorded with the Edge and is on the verge of seriously launching her career with an album in January. Interview: Molly McAnailly Burke.
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