Incorporating an infusion of Irish music, rock, pop and grunge, The Cranberries wrote some of the most popular songs worldwide in the 1990s. Unless you’ve lived under a rock during that whole decade and at least part of this, chances are you’ve heard a song or two of theirs. The band, however, went on a hiatus in 2003, citing the need for each individual to branch out into their own solo career. Now, for the first time in years, The Cranberries will play in Boston tonight, Friday, Nov. 13th at 7:30 p.m. at The Orpheum.
The Cranberries, who hail from Limerick, Ireland, are best known for their first and second albums. Their 90s album “Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can’t We,” spurred the hits “Dreams” and “Linger,” both of which were huge in the U.S. It’s widely hailed as their most successful album, although their next CD, “No Need To Argue” went platinum seven times in America. One can find “Zombie,” a ode to Irish revolutionaries during the 1916 rebellion as well “The Troubles of Northern Ireland,” “Yeats Grave” and “Ode To My Family,” both of which are less known in the U.S., but hits in their own right.
They went on to release three more studio albums, five EPs and four compilation albums, all of which had mediocre reception in America but furthered their career overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Lead singer Dolores O’Riordan launched a successful career in Europe, but her otherwise worldwide fame did not reach the U.S.
This current tour comes right on the heels of the second solo CD. Expect to hear both old and new in these shows; the band has confirmed they will be playing old hits, O’Riordan’s solo material, as well as, new, unreleased Cranberries tunes.
Though this is being hailed as a reunion tour, there was no official breakup of the group. O’Riordan attributes the need to go on a break to the demands of record companies always wanting more from the five person band. Now, however, they’re refocused on the music and are shying away from celebrity. In an interview with a London magazine, O’Riordan states, “I just make music for fun now – it’s a hobby, there’s no pressure. It’s just art and fun like it was when I first joined The Cranberries.”
As one of only a handful of Irish bands who’ve found success in the United States (in the same category as U2 and The Corrs), The Cranberries should have no problem proving themselves once more in Boston, a vibrant city rich with Celtic ancestry. Boston is their second show in their 19 date U.S. tour, which ends in early December in Seattle before picking up in March in Europe.
Dolores O’Riordan croons in their later hit “Just My Imagination,” “There was a game we used to play – We would hit the town on Friday night and stay in bed until Sunday.” The audience in The Orpheum tonight should expect nothing less from this energetic Irish band.
Kate MacDonald can be reached at [email protected].
