Foo Fighters and Alanis Morissette joined forces for a live rendition of the Sinéad O’Connor song, “Mandinka” on Saturday night (July 29). The song is from the Irish artist’s 1987 debut LP, The Lion and the Cobra.
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The performance from the big-name acts came during the Foo’s show at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. Ahead of the performance in Japan on Saturday, Morissette dedicated the song to the late O’Connor. “For a beautiful woman with high intelligence and deep empathy, way ahead of her time, who is no longer with us,” she said. “This is for her.”
O’Connor died last week. She was 56 years old. The singer, famous for her protest against Pope John Paul II and for her 1990 cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” was unresponsive with authorities came to her home.
[RELATED: Watch Pink and Brandi Carlile’s Emotional Tribute to Sinéad O’Connor]
Many have mourned O’Connor’s passing, applauding her activism and lamenting her loss. Some have performed her music live, including a recent cover by Brandi Carlile and P!nk. Tori Amos and Fall Out Boy have also performed tributes to the late singer.
In the wake of O’Connor’s passing, others have criticized the media’s coverage. Morrissey had particularly choice words. “She had only so much ‘self’ to give,” he said. “She was dropped by her label after selling 7 million albums for them. She became crazed, yes, but uninteresting, never. She had done nothing wrong. She had proud vulnerability … and there is a certain music industry hatred for singers who don’t ‘fit in’ (this I know only too well).”
He added, “The cruel playpen of fame gushes with praise for Sinead today,” he continued. “You praise her now ONLY because it is too late. You hadn’t the guts to support her when she was alive and she was looking for you.”
Morrissey then went on to highlight the contrast between the way O’Connor was treated in life to the way she is remembered now.
“The press will label artists as pests because of what they withhold…and they would call Sinead sad, fat, shocking, insane … oh but not today,” he added. “Music CEOs who had put on their most charming smile as they refused her for their roster are queuing up to call her a ‘feminist icon.’”
Morrissey then went on to compare O’Connor to other musicians who were mistreated by the industry and, as a result, suffered untimely deaths.
“Why is ANYBODY surprised that Sinead O’Connor is dead,” Morrissey wrote. “Who cared enough to save Judy Garland, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Marilyn Monroe, Billie Holiday? Where do you go when death can be the best outcome?”
See Morissette and Foo Fighters’ honor O’Connor below.
Photo by Erika Goldring/Getty Images
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