The audience at the Perth Concert Hall were clearly devoted Sinead O’Connor fans. Comments yelled out by the Perth International Arts Festival audience here at the start of her Australian tour included, ‘glad you’re here’ and ‘we love you’. And it was startling to see that in person, this woman who seems to cause seismic upset in the music industry, is small and vulnerable looking in comparison to her fiery reputation. O’Connor arrived on stage promptly at 8pm, in her black leather jacket, black jeans, bare feet and shaven head and launched into her first song ‘Queen of Denmark’. The contrast between her low key appearance, powerful voice and biting lyrics was marked.
Overall there was a good energy to the band who are clearly comfortable with each other, but it’s unfortunate they were let down by sound mixing that sometimes made it difficult to hear O’Connor’s voice clearly. She was frequently gesturing to sound mixers off stage during the show.
The 16-song set is mostly taken from her new album, I’m not Bossy, I’m the Boss, which this tour is promoting. When you listen to the lyrics they are paeans to her lost relationships and the desire to be loved and to love again, as in the song ‘Take Me to Church’, but what came across in her performance is a spiritual quality to the songs. It felt like O’Connor was singing about some greater spirit rather than just ‘I don’t wanna love the way I loved before’.
A beautiful rendition of ‘Thank You for Hearing Me’ captured one of the powerful elements in her performance that comes from the soaring highs and lows written into her songs. O’Connor is a master of the microphone, effectively deploying her famous whisper singing and then getting straight onto those high notes. In the compelling a-cappella ‘In This Heart’, where all six band members are on stage singing, the unique power and poignancy of her voice is obvious. ‘Black Boys on Mopeds’ was another song full of political nuance, powerfully sung.
In a somewhat ironic statement, whilst talking about head colds and bottom support garments, she said; ‘I don’t know why I’m talking about the insides’… given that her songs are the confessional autobiographical style. It was also clear that O’Connor was not that comfortable interacting with her audience. And in her final number, the famous 1991 song ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, her nervousness seemed to re-emerge, as she sung beautifully, spotlit alone on stage, with her hesitant guitar playing.
That song – her final encore – had been preceded by ‘The Last Day of Our Acquaintance’ and a beautiful rendition of ‘Streetcars’, with keyboardist Graham Henderson. These final few songs with a pared down sound – either guitar and voice or keyboard and voice – showed the immense beauty of O’Connor’s lovely voice, an instrument she has so well mastered; and for this reason alone I would not have missed the concert.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Sinead O’Connor
With John Reynolds, Clare Kenny, Graham Kearns, Graham Henderson and Brook Supple
Perth Concert Hall
28 February 2015
Perth International Arts Festival
www.perthfestival.com.au
13 February – 7 March
Sinead O’Connor’s I’m not Bossy, I’m the Boss tour continues Melbourne 4 March, followed by Port Fairy, Brisbane and Sydney
