The Cranberries To Release “Live At The London Astoria II, 1994” Album…The magical moment between The Cranberries’ widely celebrated debut Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? (1993) and their commercial breakthrough No Need to Argue (1994) was a pivotal time for the soon-to-be worldwide stars. Feeding off the excitement from their chart-topping first album which spawned the massive hits “Linger” and “Dreams,” the young Irish band played to an intimate crowd at the legendary venue London Astoria II. Once a long-lost recording of that performance, it was was recently unearthed and will be released as Live at The London Astoria II, 1994 via Island/UMe on August 28, 2026.
“It was such a buzz playing in The Astoria,” remembers drummer Fergal Lawler. “We had returned from the U.S. and taken a bit of time off for Christmas. This was our first concert back in London after achieving such success in America. We were delighted to see a few of our hardcore fans at the front of the stage, I think we felt proud that all our hard work had finally come to fruition.”
Fresh off a stadium tour in the U.S. in support of their debut album, The Cranberries scaled back for this special and intimate concert. Featuring nine songs that would eventually find themselves on their second album No Need to Argue, Live at The Astoria II, 1994 offered the attending fans an inside peek at never-before-released music, including a one-of-a-kind performance of “Zombie.” Seven months later, the single would be released, achieving worldwide chart-topping status in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland and was #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the US. Currently amassing over 1.8 billion views on YouTube, it remains one of the most streamed ‘90s songs globally to this day.
Comprised of 15 live recordings, Live at The Astoria II, 1994 culls seven tracks from their debut Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?, including “Pretty,” “Linger,” and “Dreams,” and nine from their follow-up No Need to Argue, including “Dreaming My Dream,” “Daffodil Lament,” “Empty” and, of course, “Zombie.” It also features two non-studio album tracks – “Liar” which was originally released on the Empire Records Soundtrack (1995) and “So Cold In Ireland,” a B-side for their single “Ode to My Family.”
A snapshot of the band before becoming one of the biggest bands from Ireland, Live at The London Astoria II, 1994 captures all the early excitement of a band on the verge of superstardom and bottles it in this special live recording.
THE CRANBERRIES LIVE AT THE LONDON ASTORIA II, 1994
TRACKLISTING
- Pretty
- Dreaming My Dream
- Linger
- Ridiculous Thoughts
- Daffodil Lament
- How
- Everything I Said
- Not Sorry
- Waltzing Back
- Dreams
- Zombie
- Liar
- So Cold in Ireland
- Empty
- Still Can’t…
For more on The Cranberries, visit: https://cranberries.com/
