Watch the powerful tributes at concerts and from home below.
Sinéad O'Connor in Perth (Credit: Karen Lowe)
Several artists, including P!nk and Brandi Carlile, Tori Amos, Fall Out Boy and TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone, have paid tribute to Sinéad O’Connor, covering her songs at their concerts overnight after the Irish singer suddenly passed away. You can watch all the videos below.
Carlile, opening for P!nk across the US on her Summer Carnival Tour, joined the Just Like A Pill hitmaker in Cincinnati for a rousing, powerful take on Nothing Compares 2 U. While it’s a Prince song, when we think of Nothing Compares 2 U, we think of O’Connor’s mesmerizingly sad music video. The pair do the song justice with their equally stunning voices.
Join our community with our FREE weekly newsletter
In San Francisco, Tori Amos, a legend on the piano, performed two songs from O’Connor’s 1990 album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, putting the effortless Tori Amos spin on I Am Stretched On Your Grave and Three Babies.
The performance arrived after the singer played her own song, Crucify, and addressed the audience, “This is a person who’s powerful, who wrote incredible music, and we honour her tonight,” per Consequence Of Sound.
Going back to Nothing Compares 2 U, it’s a song Fall Out Boy had covered before, with the US pop-punk act performing it as recently as a few weeks ago. Now, with just vocalist Patrick Stump at the piano, his version became something extra special and poignant.
Patrick Stump singing 'Nothing Compares 2 U' tonight in Atlanta.
— Adam (@blountymcfly) July 27, 2023
Fall Out Boy paying tribute to Sinéad O'Connor. pic.twitter.com/ltSlodQuPU
Stereogum found one of the saddest tributes to O’Connor, with Kyp Malone, singer of the 2000’s alternative rock ban, TV On The Radio, covering her 1990 track Black Boys On Mopeds. Taking to Instagram with just himself and an acoustic guitar, Malone’s cover is utterly heart-wrenching. Here’s what he had to say in the Instagram caption:
Black Boys on Mopeds
Sinéad O’Connor R.I.P.I met her one night in July of 2012 at a Curtis Mayfield tribute at Lincoln Center. I think she sang Billy Jack. She was open, gracious, generous and patient with me as I gushed about how much her music meant to me. She made me feel like I belonged in the same room as her.
Loved her balance of defiance and beauty. I don’t know the circumstance surrounding her death but it’s a motherfucking shame. I want a world that can sustain the likes of her into old age. Here’s to the shit talking prophets and iconoclasts. I learned the meaning of the word iconoclast when she tore a headshot of the Pope in half on live television.
Thank You Sinéad. So much love to you on your journey.
Sinéad O’Connor passed away on Wednesday, 26 July, at age 56. No cause of death has been revealed, but police have ruled her death as non-suspicious.