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Villagers at All Together Now: Band echoes affection and respect for Sinéad O’Connor

After Conor O’Brien’s rendition of Nothing Compares 2 U, he says simply ‘that’s for Sinéad’ — no showmanship there

Villagers frontman Conor O'Brien performing at All Together Now on Saturday. Photograph: Glen Bollard

Ed Power
Sat Aug 5 2023 - 22:16

Villagers

All Together Now
★★★★☆

The death of Sinéad O’Connor has had a profound impact on Irish artists, and Villagers’ Conor O’Brien is one of several to pay tribute to her at All Together Now.

He does so at the mid-point of a sometimes languid and finally full-throated main stage set, with a respectful version of Nothing Compares 2 U. O’Brien does well in bringing a folky bite to the tune — without ever pretending that this is anything other than a moment to honour O’Connor’s searing version.

The evening begins brightly with an early appearance by Everything I Am Is Yours, one of the poppiest moments in the Dublin artist’s repertoire. Here and throughout the performance, O’Brien flies the faces of the received wisdom that charisma is the same as a big personality. He is magnetically introverted, drawing the eye even as he stays rooted to the spot, shaking his head in almost imperceptible sympathy with the music.

He’s an ambitious songwriter. First Day, from 2021′s Fever Dream, finds O’Brien and his band building complex pop in the hyperambitious tradition of Brian Wilson.

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Villagers performing on the main stage at All Together Now festival in Waterford. Photograph: Glen Bollard

O’Brien has a late evening slot at the festival — a timeframe perfect for tracks at once fraught and mellow. He combines those qualities with The Pact (I’ll Be Your Fever), a love song that likens blazing love to a heightened state of awareness.

He doesn’t waste time on chatter: after Nothing Compares 2 U, he says simply, “that’s for Sinéad”. The only showmanship is from his clarinet player, who adds a chamber pop beefiness to O’Brien’s deft writing.

Villagers pick up speed as the gig rounds the closing bend. A Trick of the Light, from 2018′s The Art of Pretending to Swim, is gently funky. And then the night soars to a euphoric high with Becoming A Jackal, the title tune from O’Brien’s 2010 debut album. “I was a dreamer/staring out of windows,” he sings — and All Together Now is happy to dream along with him.

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