High atop the wishlist of The Cranberries’ fans has been an official release of their 1995 acoustic concert for MTV’s epochal, intimate performance series Unplugged. Never before available as a standalone release, MTV Unplugged will finally be available on November 7, 2025 on vinyl, CD and digital via Island Records/Ume (a limited-edition colored vinyl version featuring an alternate cover will also be available exclusively through COMPLEX). Previously only obtainable on the limited 3LP 30th Anniversary Edition of No Need to Argue which was released on June 27, 2025, this set sold out immediately upon announcement.
Originally recorded on February 14, 1995, the special nine-song performance made its broadcast debut on April 18th that year. Filmed at Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, NY, the episode was aired during the sixth season of the acclaimed series that highlighted a stripped down and acoustic setting by some of the most popular artists and musicians of the era.
“We’d seen some of the biggest names in music like R.E.M., Pearl Jam, The Cure and Nirvana do their Unplugged’s and were blown away to be following in their footsteps,” recalls drummer Fergal Lawler. “MTV were doing a series of recordings in this beautiful old theatre with curved seating. It was a really chilled, relaxed vibe with the audience sitting on the floor.” Accompanied by Electra Strings (the string quartet who had accompanied the band on the UK program Later with Jools Holland in 1994), the eloquence of The Cranberries’ songwriting was on full display, firmly underscoring the band’s importance in the pantheon of alternative rock.
Following the release of their mainstream breakthrough second album No Need to Argue, the setlist for MTV Unplugged included selections from that pivotal album, including “Dreaming My Dreams,” “Ode To My Family,” Empty,” “Zombie” and the title track. The other tracks performed include the smash “Linger” (from their debut Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?) and “Free to Decide” and “I’m Still Remembering,” both of which were unreleased at the time and would subsequently appear in recorded form the following year on their 1996 album To The Faithful Departed.
Also included is the non-album track “Yesterday’s Gone,” which remains unreleased in a studio format. “Dolores and I literally wrote ‘Yesterday’s Gone’ – apt title! – the day before,” guitarist Noel Hogan reveals. “There was a piano where we were and I said, ‘I have this idea’ and it came together in a couple of hours. The only time we ever played it was for MTV.”
Revered as one of the best episodes of the fabled MTV series which boasted 125 episodes, The Cranberries’ set has been treasured by the media and audiences alike who hoped anxiously for its official release. Selecting it as one of its “8 MTV Unplugged Performances That Should Get Vinyl Reissues,” SPIN praised it as “an unforgettable reminder of the great talent that was lost when singer Dolores O’Riordan died in 2018.” In its list of “The 15 Best MTV Unplugged Performances of All Time,” Australian magazine Mixdown said of the show, “Some bands are just tailor made to shine in an acoustic setting, and there’s no better example of this than with The Cranberries’ MTV set.” In the eponymously titled 1995 coffee table book, it was written that “the strength of The Cranberries is firmly rooted in the power of Dolores O’Riordan’s voice. It is an instrument that can be beautiful and whisper-soft at one moment and then suddenly have the piercing power of a bagpipe. Unplugged was therefore an excellent setting for the band and a very special opportunity to hear a voice with so much range in an intimate setting.”
“It was an honour to do MTV Unplugged and I’m really proud that the songs we wrote didn’t need all the bells and whistles you get in the studio to sound good,” adds Noel. “They worked just as well, stripped down and played acoustically, albeit with the help of the brilliant Electra Strings.”
The Cranberries’ MTV Unplugged will be released on vinyl, CD and digitally on November 7, 2025 via Island Records / UMe.
MTV UNPLUGGED
TRACKLISTING
- Intro/Dreaming My Dreams
- Ode To My Family
- Linger
- Free To Decide
- I’m Still Remembering
- Empty
- Zombie
- Yesterday’s Gone
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