The Cranberries are playing in Beijing tonight.
Alas, I shall miss them - because I'm off in Dalian getting festive.
To be honest, I don't think I'd be going to see them even if I were in town. The venue - the Olympic Basketball venue way out west in Wukesong (now, thanks to the miracle of corporate sponsorship, catchily renamed the Mastercard Arena) - is a pain-in-the-arse to get to, and very expensive.
And I'm not sure that I love the band enough to put myself through that. Well, no, I don't love them enough. I don't think I ever managed to sit through a whole one of their albums. Dolores, she has a fine set of pipes and all, but it's one of those voices that starts to grate on you after a while - or so I find.
However, they have a big nostalgia pull on me, because they were at the height of their fame in the UK in the mid-90s, when I was at law school - it was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was, well, very intense for me, those few years. And The Cranberries are a central element of the soundtrack to that time (fellow music enthusiast Hopfrog - who only ever seems to comment on my music or cinema posts - and I were having a little chat last weekend about how certain music transports us back to certain periods in our lives). And I've always particularly liked this song (who doesn't?) - Dreams.
[This is the rather weird 'original' video (women in burkas on a desolate moor somewhere??!!). And gosh, Ms O'Riordan looks young in this. Well, I gather she might still have been only 21 - but she looks about 14. A later video of the song is on the band's VEVO channel here. Here's a live version - from a concert in Santiago in 2007, apparently; one of Dolores' solo shows. There's another very good live performance from a 1999 concert in Paris with the rest of the band. And it seems that at that same gig they covered Fleetwood Mac's Go Your Own Way. Now, this almost makes me regret that I'm going to miss them today... It looks as though there might be a complete concert film of this Paris show - yes, it's called Beneath The Skin - Live In Paris. I think I want that! This year's birthday list begins... And I see they've got back together to produce their first studio album in a decade, Roses, due for release soon. Hmm. I think I'm keener to check out the live performance video. If that wins me over, I may start giving their albums another try.]
[Oh no, apparently the Beijing show was on Thursday. Easy to miss! Who the F*** schedules a show on a Thursday??!!]
4 comments:
Wow, this is odd. "Linger" has been stuck in my head all week along with memories of the mid 90's. I even tracked down the sheet music and was going to learn it on me piano.
Matter of fact, my hand to any holy relic, Linger was in my head right before clicking onto your page. Heck I was even rooting around for some more info on Dolores this week. Did you know she is the richest woman in Ireland?
I probably wouldn't have gone to the concert either, only really dig a few of their songs, but I do love her voice.
Now, that is a spooky coincidence.
And an unexpected piece of trivia. I would have thought Sinead O'Connor or Andrea Corr or Mrs Bono would have her beat. But I suppose Dreams and Linger were massive hits in the States. And maybe she's invested the money prudently.
I heartily recommend that 'Live in Paris' video - lots of great stuff on that.
If you're looking for piano inspiration... did you happen to catch this post of JES's which includes a great clip of French pianist Maxence Cyrin performing an instrumental version of The Pixies' Where Is My Mind?. Reworking contemporary rock songs to sound like classical works is his shtick, and he's very good at it: lots of other great stuff on his YouTube channel there.
Real quick, I got it a tad wrong.... Dolores is one of the top 10 richest, not THE richest.
I liked the JES clip a lot, he really digs up some beauties. I'm more of a cheesy cocktail player, and I'm downright dreadful at that, but thanks for the inspiration.
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