The Cranberries shared a potent new video that captures an early live performance of their 1994 smash “Zombie.”
The clip was filmed at the Astoria 2 in London, England, in January 1994, seven months before “Zombie” was released as a single. Still, the song is fully formed and the performance offers a glimpse at the inherent power of the track as the crowd reacts to Dolores O’Riordan belting the song’s soon-to-be unmistakable hook.
The “Zombie” clip comes from the Cranberries’ 1994 concert film, The Cranberries Live, which was released in May of that year, while a DVD version arrived in 2005. The film was shot a little less than a year after the release of the band’s breakout debut 1993 debut, Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? and a few months before the release of their follow-up, No Need to Argue, which would contain “Zombie” and go on to sell over 17 million copies.
The “Zombie” live clip also marks the start of a new remaster and restoration project that will see the band’s music video catalogue re-uploaded to YouTube in high definition.
In April, the Cranberries released their final album, In the End. O’Riordan and Cranberries guitarist Noel Hogan began working on the LP before O’Riordan’s death last January. After several months of mourning, the rest of the band enlisted producer Stephen Street to help them finish the record.
The Cranberries said they had no intention of replacing O’Riordan or staying together following the release of In the End, with Hogan telling Rolling Stone, “It’s not something we’re ever going to entertain. I think the band accomplished a lot, and I think we’ll leave it on a high with this album.”