There are a few minutes of aptly contemplative silence for Mother Bernadette Mary as we wait for her to take to the stage. Of course we know her better as Sinéad O’Connor.

In an act of a complex and intriguing individual, O’Connor was ordained as priest although the Catholic Church – her church – doesn’t recognise women priests.
 
Opposing the Church’s stance on ordaining women it was typical O’Connor – whether she’s ripping up a picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live or speaking out about child abuse, O’Connor has never been afraid to confront controversy.

Though the look has changed – she has grown out her shaved hair – what O’Connor both stands for and cares for remains connected to her music.

Her family is very much in evidence – songs in turn are dedicated to her three sons and one daughter and there are the protest songs including her feelings about the Pope expressed on The Last Day of Our Acquaintance.

For one so fearless in her convictions it’s something of a surprise that O’Connor begins the set visibly a little nervy, but there’s really no need to be. The voice is as crystalline as ever, the music and the band incredibly tight considering they were only formed a few weeks ago and the new songs from the forthcoming Home album are on a par with her better known early material.

That emotional connection is still present throughout; Three Babies and the Prince-penned Nothing Compares 2 U (or ‘the backyard song’ as her young son Shaney calls it) guarantee a moistening of the eyes in the room.

The hesitant O’Connor of the beginning, though endearing, subsides and the nerves are replaced with a dry wit quipping about how the eye colour of her loves mentioned in a song changed over the years according to who she was with – a self deprecating reference to her three marriages and several significant love affairs.

It’s a life fully lived and she’s only 44. Just imagine what there might be yet to come.

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