Sinead O'Connor

Say what you will about Sinéad O’Connor (and most people do!), she sure is pretty! The most important female Irish artist of the last decade-and-a-half shuffles self-consciously onto the stage to a truly warm Mayo welcome. 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.

A stark reading of ‘Peggy Gordon’ begins proceedings and we are reminded that Sinéad doing an album of old traditional Irish songs, Sean Nós Nua, is not such an odd choice for her to make. She has always been a great traditional singer, evident since the inclusion of ‘I Am Stretched On Your Grave’ on 1990’s I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got album (which tonight is performed in a dubby reggae stylee faithful to the record and dedicated to “all the dead people”).

The first half of the set features mainly the new stuff (‘Lord Franklin’, ‘Molly Malone’, ‘Paddy’s Lament’, ‘Moorlough Shore’) with some truly outstanding moments. A defiant, dub-heavy take on ‘Óró Sé Do Bheatha ‘Bhaile’ has the audience singing along with a gusto normally reserved for pub singalongs, with John Reynolds’ pounding drums giving the song a truly anthemic feel.

The biggest cheer of the night goes to (you’ve guessed it) ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ which still sounds as fresh as the Castlebar night air. Sinead then treats to us to something of a greatest hits package, ‘John, I Love You’, Englishman’, a stunning ‘Thank You for Hearing Me’. She dons guitar for an encore of ‘The Last Day Of Our Acquaintance’ (easily the best thing of the night), and quickly loses it again for ‘The Parting Glass’, a perfect way to finish.