What exactly happened in Berlin with SineadO'Connor?

[AsydWaters]

I'm confused about what exactly was it that caused so much furore and much clarifications by the Rog's band and others etc. when Sinnead O Connor performed "Mother"? As I've only seen the edited version of the concert I really still don't know.Help plz?

[pfco]

I'm confused about what exactly was it that caused so much furore and much clarifications by the Rog's band and others etc. when Sinnead O Connor performed "Mother"? As I've only seen the edited version of the concert I really still don't know.Help plz?

From Q magazine, November 1992

Quote from Waters:

"It was very, very hard work organising that Wall concert but everyone was fabulous to work with - Bryan Adams, Van Morrison, Cyndi Lauper, bloody brilliant. All brilliant.
Except for Sinead O'Connor. Oh, God! I have never ever met anybody who is so self-involved and unprofessional and big-headed and unpleasant. She is so far up her own bum it's scary. With The Wall, she was so worried that there weren't any other (_adopts Irish "brogue"_) 'young people on the show'. I and everybody else were old farts in her opinion so she was worried that she was doing something that wasn't 'street' enough. And because it wasn't 'street' enough, she came up with this brilliant idea: she said that I should employ Ice-T or one of those people to re-work one of my songs as a rap number! I am not joking! And neither was she f*ing joking! That's the sad thing - she
was serious! And then a couple of months after the show, when the record was out, she did an interview on American television, millions of viewers, and she rubbished the whole thing, said the Wall concert was a load of wank. I don't give a f*k what she thought about it but she should have kept her f*ing mouth shut because it could only hurt the charity, the memorial fund and everything that Leonard (Cheshire) had done. She
doesn't understand anything. She's just a silly little girl. You can't just lie in the corner and shave your bloody head and stick up your arse and occasionally pull it out to go (_"brogue"_) 'Oh, I tink this is wrong and dat is wrong' and burst into tears."

I don't know what happened with "Mother", all I know is that he wasn't happy with Ms. O'Connor overall.

Sandy

[J Ed]

I dont remember there being there anything wrong with her performancee of Mother, though she was clearly not even pretending to lipsynch during the encore
the soundsytem failure happened a few songs earlier, during the Thin Ice
the problem w Sinead, as stated by Rog in interviews, is she was trying to give him advice during rehearsals
specifically suggesting he rearrange the music to have more contemporary "streetcred", eg rap elements, so he told her just whose rockopera this was she was lucky enough to be performing in
personally I think the two equally ornery stubborn outspoken leftwing activist types were a bit too much alike in all the worst ways, so spent all their time butting heads instead of combining their superpowers to save the world

[Keith Jordan]

The video used on the DVD is from the rehearsal the day before isnt it? She wasnt there on the actual public performance was she?

[mosespa]

She was, indeed, there for the actual performance.

When the sound went down, Roger told her that if she heard anything coming through the monitors to mime along with it. This was because if something was coming through the monitors, it meant that someone on the sound crew had gotten the previous evening's rehearsal to come through the sound system...so it would be a good idea to make it look like what was coming out of the system was originating from onstage.

This lead Sinead to publicly accuse Roger of trying to make her mime her song...which only created further friction.

Don't get me wrong, I have great respect for her voice and despite the baldness, I'd do things to her that would make her write protest songs and crusade against me...but she DOES seem to have some rather seriously unresolved issues that she needs to resolve.

She's a bigger sourpuss than Rog.

That's saying something.

[snifferdog]

Sinéad's never been a friend of Mr. Sanity. In the past decade she's been a priest, a lesbian and has just had a baby. Neither of the latter would be compatible with being a Catholic priest I'd have thought. There's no doubt she's talented but she is one seriously messed up woman.

She's said some crazy things in her time. One that springs to mind is her pronouncement that the Irish potato famine never happened.

[The Gil]

I saw that concert on the telly.

I couldn't get my head round why she should be able to sing: "Mother do you think they're gonna try to break my balls?" when she doesn't actually have any!?!

Definately a bad move as far as I can see!

[henno]

*adopting a monty python brogue*..."shes a looney.."

i often wonder how richard wright got on with her during the recordings of Broken China.... some of her best work is on that album... and theres no ice-t there.. maybe ricks 'street'!!..

[David Smith]

Don't get me wrong, I have great respect for her voice and despite the baldness, I'd do things to her that would make her write protest songs and crusade against me...

With Sinead? I sense someone hasn't had any for a while and is getting desperate

Well either that or i'm just a picky bastard when it comes to hair

but she DOES seem to have some rather seriously unresolved issues that she needs to resolve.

She's a bigger sourpuss than Rog.

That's saying something.

Yeah, heard she went on Saturday Night Live and ripped up a picture of the pope while chanting the word 'evil'

[mosespa]

I was watching that evening. She sang Bob Marley's "War" a capella and then, gazing into the camera, spit out "Fight the REAL enemy" and then tore up the picture of the pope.

Okay...I've got a bit to say about Catholicism that Catholics wouldn't like to hear...but, her manner of protest was not only impotent...it made her (and therefore her message) look equally impotent.

[Sonic Destruction]

I think she later publically apologised to the pope, for whatever that was worth.

I never liked her much, but I did love her vocals on Rick's album, and she has done some good stuff with Jah Wobble too.

[wiped]

Lets face it , she's an annoying prick with a good voice - end of.

[carefule eugene]

Well , I have the original TV-source of that evening and I have to say the performance of Sinead wasn't that bad, but the backgroundchoir was singing so f**king false that I understand that the official version is edited...

[David Smith]

I was watching that evening. She sang Bob Marley's "War" a capella and then, gazing into the camera, spit out "Fight the REAL enemy" and then tore up the picture of the pope.

Okay...I've got a bit to say about Catholicism that Catholics wouldn't like to hear...but, her manner of protest was not only impotent...it made her (and therefore her message) look equally impotent.

Bloody hell... Isn't Saturday Night live supposed to be a comedy programme? Talk about choosing the wrong audience for it too

[nemesis11f]

Lets face it , she's an annoying prick with a good voice - end of.

Agreed. That woman's seriously fucked in the head. Also, her little stunt on SNL is no different than the kinds of shit that ingorant assholes do today, like the stupid president of Iran going on the tube and saying that Israeal should be burned to a cinder, because they're the real enemy. Those displays make me sick- if you don't like a religion, fine. You're entitled to your opinion, but don't shove it down my throat, especially when you're so ignorant and fucked in the head that you have no clue whatsoever what you are talking about. It's also very disturbing that that would be aired on a comedy program. Religion, regardless of what religion is in question (save for scientology, of course) is no laughing matter- people die over that shit everyday. God, that woman's seriously messed, and her senseless hate is just a byproduct of those missing mental cogs. Anyone who exhibits that sort of ingorant, senseless hate is just AFU in a big way, I don't care who they are or what they believe in. I can see why Roger would grind with her so much, that sort of senseless hate is exactly the kind of thing he has spent nearly 40 years writing about. (sigh). Well, it makes me happier to know that Mr. Waters doesn't care for her, either, as it shows his higher moral and ethical standards, let alone good taste.