Sinead O’Connor ducks out of last song
With the help of a duck Sinead O’Connor leaves the crowd in suspense at this year’s WOMAD.
Even with the distraction of a duck Sinead O’Connor managed to finish most of her weekend WOMAD performance.
The show was due to start at 6.30pm Sunday in the TSB Bowl of Brooklands and the field was full by 5.40pm with people still struggling to find space.When the time arrived O’Connor walked out in dark jeans, a black long sleeve top with a priest’s collar and a cross around her neck that screamed rebellion.
She opened with a cover of John Grant’s Queen of Denmark and got the crowd in the mood for more.
After a bit of dancing the crowd settled down to listen to Sinead harmonise with her entourage in a beautiful version of In This Heart.
During the concert O’Connor dedicated three songs to different people. The first was The Healing Room, which was for her son, his wife and their unborn child who were side of stage. She looked at them and said, “this is for you three,” in an enhanced Irish accent which employed many giggles from the crowd. She also dedicated Irish Anthem to the indigenous people of New Zealand. Dense Water, Deeper Water was dedicated to Robert Downey Jr which seemed to get the female fans back up and dancing.
Halfway through the show a duck swam out on the pond in front of the stage and Sinead stopped mid song to laugh and say, “ducky!” This amused the crowd but soon enough she got on with the show.
Towards the end Sinead sang The Last Day of Our Acquaintance which she said would normally be her last song but then she would come back and do an encore. She decided that was not festival protocol and told the crowd to “just pretend we left to have a piss and came back.”
Once back on stage, Sinead enchanted the audience with Streetcars and then asked “how do you think Nothing Compares to You would sound?” To which the crowd answered with a roar.
Unfortunately after the second verse Sinead was once again laughing at the same duck and lost her words. She walked off the stage.
After the stop-start affair the crowd was left wanting more. There was a feeling that a once in a life time opportunity had been lost for some. It would have been amazing to hear her most popular hit but instead there was an air of disappointment as fans gave her a final cheer.
