I just hope she wasn’t paid ….

In 1965/66 a singer named Twinkle was boo-ed off the stage at the Ritz Cinema in Belfast when a discerning audience thought her performance was not up to scratch. Well, it would appear that Belfast audiences are no longer so discerning because, in my opinion, the same treatment should have been dished out last night to one: Ms Sinead O’Connor. I must admit that I am not a great fan of hers but I expected much better, I had thought that after 20 years she would have finally perfected her art and delivered a professional performance.

She has been described as ‘one of the most exceptional vocalists’ who ‘can rival just about any female rock star of this generation’ - this from a review of a concert in September 2007, when her voice was described as pristine. Sadly this was not to be the case last night when her manner came across as lethargic and her singing as mediocre. I felt that, perhaps because it was a free concert, she just could not be bothered making the effort. OR, perhaps she just doesn’t like Belfast audiences.

She walked on stage, took the microphone from the stand, started singing and stood rooted to the spot for the whole of the evening’s performance. A tailor’s dummy would have shown more life and would probably have delivered the songs with more energy and panache. At times she was difficult to hear because she didn’t seem to want to raise her voice above a whisper and on the odd occasion when she did resort to the ‘powerful voice’ for which she is renowned it was only to be fleeting and made her performance seem incredibly disjointed.

Eventually, I decided I could stand no more and left. In the foyer I discovered I had not been the first, or only, person to leave mid-performance and others agreed with me that her performance was extremely boring. I just hope she wasn’t paid for such a mind numbing experience.

Anybody wishing to judge for themselves can listen to the concert here:

Somebody else agrees with me.