Festival Jardins de Pedralbes, June 11th 2016
After four years of silence, this was undoubtedly the most long-awaited concert that Pedralbes Festival had to offer. The “sold out” sign which had been hanging for weeks was the best evidence.

The Cranberries opened the concert with the sound of drums in Analyse. Dressed in sequined blouse, denim skirt and shiny silver shoes, Dolores O’Riordan looked brilliant in every sense, matching the gleam in her eyes and her smile. Even though protocol at the venue didn’t allow fans to approach Dolores, she stretched her hand to her Greek fans as soon as she stepped on stage. The second song was Animal Instinct, or the expression of pure love, during which Dolores showed her sensitivity again when she greeted one of our administrators at Dolores O’Riordan Spain.
The concert continued with their classics from the 90’s, which have been part of our lives, and Wanted, which delighted the audience. People swayed their arms while listening to ballads such as Linger or When You’re Gone until Noel’s acoustic guitar intro in Just My Imagination made the audience definitely jump from their seats.

The band was committed and happy; you could feel the empathy and mutual understanding between the members whose eyes met from time to time, showing smiles and making some funny comments.

Dolores’ distinctive voice still showed her characteristic strength, adapting perfectly to the style of each song: sounding torn in Zombie, almost whispering in Dreaming My Dreams or yodelling in Desperate Andy. Noel took a childlike pleasure, radiating the passion he feels for his work, Mike was always smiling shyly and Fergal played so enthusiastically that he even broke a drumhead. The back-up singer Johanna Cranitch is also worth mentioning, as she synchronized her voice perfectly with Dolores’.

The concert went on with some greatest hits and a couple of songs from their last album,“Roses”: Conduct, a beautiful ballad in which the Hogan brothers played an improvised intro, and Schizophrenic Playboys, a rock song with a touch from the 90’s. Madness broke out in Salvation, which made the audience jump from the chair again – literally – to follow the rhythm and dance to its energetic riffs. And finally, Dolores started playing the hit that made the Cranberries achieve international success, Zombie, whose chorus was sung enthusiastically by everybody in the audience.
The Cranberries reappeared on stage playing the first notes of Empty.

Some people were expecting Dolores’ famous change of outfit, but this time it was Fergal who came back to stage putting on a T-shirt (which he had taken off during the show) just in time to play the bongos. Then we could listen to You And Me. And finally, that energy and connection with the audience became evident again with Promises and Dreams. This last song was special as Dolores received the affection and love of her fans, who gave her a bunch of flowers, paper daffodils and showed her banners while she greeted them again.

The Cranberries gave a grand finale to a night that will be written in stone for all the people who had the pleasure of attending such a show, full of passion for music and commitment to their audience. It was a magical night, because The Cranberries really make magic. Although they have just come back, it seems likely that the door to a future new album is open; in fact, it might have never been closed. Meanwhile, we will continue dreaming our dreams with them.