Everyone seems to remember the Pope Incident, but few recall that a) O’Connor later asked John Paul II to forgive her for that indelicate photo crop, and b) she was singing Bob Marley’s “War” when she did the deed. It’s one of Marley’s most searingly political songs, and it revealed O’Connor to have more than a passing interest in Rastafarian culture. Now she brings her fascination full circle with a full-on reggae album and tour, and once you’re done sniggering at the image of a bald Irishwoman singing an ode to dreads (“Curly Locks”), you’ll find that Throw Down Your Arms is a very good–er, we mean irie–album. After all, she recorded it in Kingston with toweringly huge reggae producers/players Sly and Robbie, and they’re along for the tour, so expect a deep Rasta groove to rumble beneath Sinead’s breathy pipes as they mine the back catalogs of Marley, Burning Spear, Lee “Scratch” Perry and other reggae masters. This is the first show of her first U.S. tour in seven years (so much for her “retirement” from music), making it a big date for the Irish siren.
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