The Cranberries — Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, 1999

On 9 December 1999, The Cranberries took over the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy for a live concert filmed for the DVD “Beneath the Skin: Live in Paris.” The Irish band, led by Dolores O’Riordan, was touring its fourth album, Bury the Hatchet, released in April 1999. In Paris, the group was at the height of its stage maturity: a decade after forming in Limerick, it strung together the songs that defined the 1990s. This live concert in Paris balanced anthemic crowd favourites — “Zombie,” “Linger,” “Dreams,” “Ode to My Family” — with newer material such as “Promises,” “Animal Instinct” and “Salvation.” O’Riordan’s unmistakable voice, her soaring lines and Gaelic-inflected phrasing carried the full twenty-two-song set. The careful capture preserves the energy of a packed Parisian arena and the contrast between bright pop-rock and darker, heavier numbers. A valuable record of the year 1999, this full concert remains one of the finest video documents of The Cranberries from this era, before the band’s later hiatus and its return in the 2000s.