The late Sinéad O'Connor and Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, who both died last year, were honored Wednesday night (March 20) with an all-star tribute concert in New York.
Among the highlights was a performance of O'Connor's signature hit "Nothing Compares 2 U" by her daughter Róisín Waters. The performance, captured on video and shared on YouTube, garnered hoots and hollers of approval after Waters delivered the first line. Barefoot and wearing a long print dress and sporting short blonde hair, Waters sounded incredibly like her late mother.
The song, written by Prince, made O'Connor a superstar in America, topping Billboard's Hot 100 on April 21, 1990, and helping to propel her second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, to the top of the album chart a week later.
O'Connor died in July at the age of 56 while MacGowan passed in November at the age of 65. Both artists were loved by fans and fellow musicians.
Other performers at the show included Glen Hansard (perhaps best known for the acclaimed film Once, which won an Oscar in 2008 for Best Original Song for "Falling Slowly"), Cat Power, former Pogues member Cait O'Riordan, David Gray, the Resistance Revival Chorus, Bettye LaVette, Billy Bragg, Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz, Gordan Gano of the Violent Femmes, Craig Finn from the Hold Steady, John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, the Dropkick Murphys and others.
Other highlights from the show included Hansard and O'Riordan joining forces for a performance of the Pogues Christmas classic "Fairytale of New York," which the pair also performed at MacGowan's memorial. Hansard also teamed with May to perform the O'Connor and MacGowan duet of "Haunted."
The concert was a benefit for PEN American, a nonprofit organization committed to promoting freedom of expression in the U.S.
