Tom Dunne: 2023 was a year divided by the sadness of July 26
Sinéad O'Connor, The Beatles and U2 feature in Tom Dunne's wrap of 2023. Pictures: Terry O'Neill/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Apple Corps Ltd; and Ronda Churchill / AFP via Getty Images
The past year was for me, and I suspect for many music fans, divided into the days before July 26, and the days after it. Before it, my speakers were alive with new music from Grian Chatten, CMAT, The National and Gabriels. But after July 26 only one name featured: Sinead O’Connor.
It makes for a startling sight on my playlists. From July 26 until August 4, when Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ marked a return to some kind of normality, it is just the same name, over and over again: Sinead, Sinead, Sinead.
