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Sinéad O’Connor - Live in Italy Correggio July 5rd 1997 

When her concert started, it was immediately clear the evening would take a different turn. Even her style was totally different - no light dress under a leather coat: she came onstage with a blue Adidas gym-suit, walking, moving and talking in the funniest fly-girl attitude. She clearly had problems with her voice - gone was the purity and boundlessness in it, gone her own confidence in her vocal possibilities. Yet, to our surprise, she was much warmer and more involved in her songs. Maybe it was exactly her need to fight with her voice who stimulated her to give more in terms of interpretation. This was not clear in all of the songs, but the overall impression was definitely more intense. "This is the Last day of Our Acquaintance", "In This Heart", "Redemption Song", and particularly her last encore, a folk song that should be titled "Wedding Day", were just few of the moving highlights of the evening. She gave an impressive demonstration of what might be pointed out as one of her most striking and original abilites: by the way she listened to her voice as she sang, she was able to create a wonderful listening in the audience. It’s as if everyone suddenly realized, "Ooops! There IS another way of listening to a singer sing!" - the whole public just went totally silent and involved, and the silence ended up HAVING A SOUND; the sound of many hearts pounding together with hers, following her with generosity on this trip through humanity and love. And all this was originated by the simple way she put her voice out and followed it confidently with her own listening, trusting that intensity is not necessarily shown through rethorical interpretation or fake emotional involvement, but rather, that crystal, despite being hard and sharp, can deliver the whole range of human passions in an unexpected and illuminating way. This sort of creative miracle she is famous and loved for was most welcomed by the audience, whose warmth and gratitude were not only more intense, but also much more humanly involved than just two days before. Nobody seemed to care the least about the imperfections in her voice - on the contrary, everyone seemed to value very much what she dared give them.

Despite the hard times she’s been through, and the evident trace they’ve left in her, so much so that it’s clear she still has to work hard before she can come back in the fullness of her abilites, Sinéad O’Connor has confirmed herself as one of the most talented artists of our time.

 Matteo Vegetti

Milan, 13 July 1997