Sinead
O'Connor at the Tarrytown Music Hall 11/13/13
I
originally found Sinead O'Connor on YouTube, where I saw a video of her singing
"She Moved Through the Fair." I
sent a link to this video to Josh Groban. He later included that song on his
album "All That Echoes." He
said in his banter before he performed the song that he found her singing it on YouTube. I
have no clue whether he found the song, because I sent him the link, or whether
he found it on his own.
Still there
was the chance that maybe he found the song through me. Who knows?
In any
case, I really love his version of the song. I particularly loved his very
passionate rendition of it during the iheart radio concert.
I really
knew nothing about the history of Sinead O'Connor. One of my friend is a volunteer
usher at The Tarrytown Music Hall. She told me that Sinead tore up a picture of
the pope, and after that the radio stations would not play her music any more,
so she fell off the edge of the world as far as popular music was concerned in
this country.
That's an
interesting story. I was surprised to hear that radio stations were that
touchy. It seems to me that performers are often doing crazy things. It hardly
seems worth taking her off the radio for that, but, maybe, they wouldn't do it
now. So much else has happened.
But there
is certainly a lesson in that. Other performers would do well to be cautious if
they don't want to suddenly become Indie.
Apparently,
though, a lot of people remember her. The place was packed, and the audience
hugely enthusiastic.
Sinead
recently wrote a very interesting letter to Miley Cyrus. Here is a link to that
article
So Sinead
O'Connor came to the Tarrytown Music Hall, which is near me, and I went,
because I already had a ticket, even though I had to get up early for testing,
because they've found a mass in my ovaries which is suspected to be cancer. I
needed the sleep, because I only had three hours sleep the night before, but I
went, and I only fell asleep very briefly.
She still
has a very short buzz cut. She performed stocking footed, and wearing jeans and
a loose tunic type yellow shirt. She looks like she probably has a very nice
body, but she certainly covers it well, which is consistent with her letter to
Miley Cyrus, warning the younger singer not to let the industry pimp her. She is noticeably knock kneed.
The news
items I have read about Sinead indicate that she is 47, which makes her sort of
in the same age category as Susan Boyle, but she's obviously a very different
performer.
She mostly
performed with a guitar, though not always.
She had a five piece band with her. She did one solo a capella piece,
which I found very impressive, as you almost never see a performer do that. She
definitely pulled it off, with drama and grace. Also, on one piece, the band
became a chorus, so they did a choral a capella number, which I also liked. She used whispering as part of her songs, sometimes.
Her voice
is strong, fairly low, slightly raspy and soulful. She performs with energy and dances a bit
while singing. Some of her songs include
the "f" word.
The style
of the music was sometimes folk-like and sometimes rock. For the early part of
the concert, I did not need ear plugs, but it got louder as she went on, so I
was grateful for them later, though it never became truly deafening. Some of
the later parts had extremely loud bass, which made me a bit queasy and gave me
narcolepsy, assisted by my lack of sleep.
Still I have a history of getting narcolepsy from certain music,
especially classical music, so I'm trying to figure out what types
of music give it to me.
Unfortunately,
I did not recognize any of the songs. Notably, she did not perform the song I
first discovered her singing. I'm pretty sure it would not sound like the
YouTube video I first found her in. She's older and her voice is lower and
heavier.
Basically,
I thought she gave a great show.
I did find
the musical arrangements a bit dull and repetitive. That's one thing I like
about Josh Groban, the creativity and variety of the musical arrangements.
If
you look at her letter to Miley Cyrus, she says she feels she's been thrown on
the trash heap of the music industry. She certainly doesn't deserve that. She's
got a lot if spunk left in her and, with some better arrangements, I think she
would be quite successful. Certainly her fans at the Tarrytown Music Hall were
ecstatic.
Those of
you who read this blog know that it's been mostly centered on Josh Groban. At
the same time as I was attending this concert, he gave his final concert of the
"In the Round" Tour, which features "She Moved Through the
Fair." He recently put out a tweet
saying that this might be his last concert ever, which was odd given that he
also recently said that he wants to record two albums once his tour is over.
Still, especially in view of my health concerns, the season, and Josh's end of
tour, I have this twilighty ending feeling about the evening.
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