The Cranberries – well, three quarters of them – reunited last night in honour of Dolores O’Riordan joining the likes of The Edge, Al Pacino, Helen Mirren and Salman Rushdie in being made an Honorary Patron of Trinity College’s Philosophical Society.

After being interviewed in front of 300 wildly appreciative Trinners students by Hot Press’ Stuart Clark, Dolores and the brothers Hogan who hadn’t been on stage or in the same room together for almost six years performed string-quartet assisted versions of ‘Linger’, her 2007 solo hit ‘Ordinary Day’ and that other Cranberries chestnut, ‘Zombie’.

“When I was asked a few weeks ago if I was up for it I thought, ‘Oh, it’ll be a nice simple acoustic job’, but Dolores being Dolores she decided she wanted to make a real occasion of it and have a string section as well,” Noel Hogan told Hot Press beforehand. “I kept leaving it, but finally got my old notebooks out last night and slipped right back into it. We rehearsed this afternoon and, I have to say, it sounded pretty good.”

It certainly did. Despite professing to some pre-gig butterflies, the band were as note perfect as they were back in their ‘90s heyday prompting the inevitable question – are the Cranberries going to get back together?

“Definitely down the road, but not right now,” Dolores says, “because we’ve all got kids and babies. You can’t really do both – be on the road all the time and be a good parent. To bring kids into the world, you need to be there for them. I’m really enjoying taking things at my own pace.”
Which means local newspaper talk of The Cranberries playing Thomond Park is, for the time being, wide of the mark.

Fans will be pleased to hear though that Dolores’ second solo album, No Baggage?, is due in May with ‘Skeleton’, ‘Tranquilizer’, ‘Lunatic’ and ‘Switch Off The Moment’ among the stand-outs.
Also in the can and awaiting summer release is the first album by Noel Hogan and Oxford singer Richard Walters’ collaborative project, Arkitekt. It’s trailed on March 1 by ‘14 Waves’, a song that packs the most potent of pop punches. The duo are planning to spend a goodly part of 2009 on the road which, laughs Hogan, “will surprise my three kids who are too young to remember The Cranberries and think their dad’s job is hanging around at home. We’re both excited about playing these songs live and building things from the ground up. It really does feel like a new beginning.” He also has a compilation of Limerick acts ready to go on his own Gohan Records label.

[Pictured: Dolores with her Phil Soc Patron’s medal, and rocking out with Noel and Mike Hogan. Photos by Ruth Medjber]