ob Geldof instructed a pageant crowd that late singer Sinead O’Connor had despatched him textual content messages weeks earlier than her loss of life which have been “laden with desperation, despair and sorrow”.

The Boomtown Rats frontman devoted the band’s efficiency at Cavan Calling in Ireland to O’Connor, who died at her dwelling in south-east London final week on the age of 56.

Tributes have been paid to her by well-known figures throughout the music business since her loss of life.

Several gatherings have additionally been held within the days since O’Connor’s loss of life the place members of the general public paid tribute to her legacy as a musician and activist.

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Geldof, 71, who grew up along with her household and lived “down the road” from her, instructed the gang: “Many, many times Sinead was full of a terrible loneliness and a terrible despair.

“She was a very good friend of mine. We are talking right up to a couple of weeks ago.

“Some of the texts were laden with desperation and despair and sorrow and some were ecstatically happy. And she was like that.”

O’Connor, who was propelled to worldwide stardom in 1990 along with her model of the hit Nothing Compares 2 U, was additionally identified for taking fierce stances on social and political points such because the baby abuse scandal within the Catholic Church.

The Grammy Award-winning singer sparked controversy and made headlines in 1992 when she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on US TV present Saturday Night Live in protest, sparking a ferocious backlash.

Geldof mentioned: “She tore up the picture of the Pope because she saw me tearing up a picture of John Travolta on Top Of The Pops. It was a little more extreme than tearing up f****** disco – tearing up the Vatican is a whole other thing but more correct actually, I should’ve done it.”

Ahead of the Irish live performance, Geldof instructed Aine Duffy for Irish Web TV, that the band have been “all very sad” following O’Connor’s loss of life and had determined to play numerous their oldest tracks for the gang as she was a “big Rats fan” and had gone to lots of their gigs as a younger lady.

He mentioned: “Sinead lived down the road from me and Gary, the guitar player in the band who died about six or seven months ago, we are quite literally down the road.

“So we’ve known that girl most of her life, really. She was a big Rats fan… so, to be honest with you, that’s why we’re doing very early stuff and we dedicate this gig to her, it’s the only thing we can do as musicians.

“We were friends all the way through. She was signed to the same little record label we were signed to, by the same guy, had the same manager and stuff like that so there’s a big connection there.”

Geldof confirmed the efficiency at Cavan Calling was “definitely for Sinead”.

On Monday night, folks braved the rain to pay tribute to the late singer in Belfast’s Writers Square.

Some held previous news articles about O’Connor and tore them up whereas chanting “fight the real enemy”, echoing her 1992 protest on the US TV programme Saturday Night Live when she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II.

The crowd in Writers Square additionally sang her well-known hit, Nothing Compares 2 U.

Roise McCann, an organiser and activist with the feminist group ROSA who organised the gathering, instructed the PA news company that O’Connor’s loss of life has “touched so many people”.

“You can’t separate the music of Sinead O’Connor from her activism – her early activism as an abortion rights activist, her iconic movements against the abuse within the Catholic Church and her later support of the Black Lives Matter movement and against transphobia.

“As an activist myself and as a woman growing up in Ireland, I completely resonate with her lyrics and her artistry about oppression and also I’m inspired by her legacy of activism.”