The Cranberries — Tiny Desk (NPR), 2012

Live performance by Irish band The Cranberries at NPR Music’s Tiny Desk, filmed in 2012 at the broadcaster’s Washington offices. Returning from a long hiatus and on the cusp of the album “Roses”, the quartet led by Dolores O’Riordan delivers a stripped-back acoustic set tailored to the intimacy of Bob Boilen’s desk. Freed from the rock production of their records, the songs expose the singer’s unmistakable voice — her soaring lines, her vibrato and her Gaelic-tinged phrasing — underpinned by Noel Hogan’s guitar. This filmed live concert is a valuable document of the band’s melodic craft at the turn of the 2010s, spanning global hits and newer material. Short but dense, it is emblematic of the Tiny Desk series, where the absence of studio gloss reveals the strength of the writing and the chemistry of a cult alternative pop-rock outfit. Essential viewing for the raw, close-up honesty of a performance far removed from the stadiums.