Cormac Heron

I only ever saw The Pogues once and that was in 1990 (circa Hell’s Ditch) for the Trip To Tipp festival. This was kind of surprising to me last night given the huge impact they have been on my life.

They were amazing in Trip To Tipp, or so I thought. MacGowan is Tipperary born so it was a bit emotional for him. Maybe a bit too emotional I thought as he seemed to have missed a fair few cues and fluffed a fair bit of it. What the heck, I sort of expected him to do that.

I have seen MacGowan a few times since with The Popes and guesting with Sharon Shannon. His performances had all been greeted with some form of expectation on my part that he’d make a bit of a mess here and there. Probably all based on that 1990 gig.

Fast forward 21 years and here I am seeing them again. (I usually miss them at Christmas time as I am often away.) I was expecting MacGowan to be fluffing more and the band to be, well slower and older. Glad to say I was totally wrong in my expectations.

Streams of Whiskey was the opener followed by If I Should Fall From Grace With God and the band were on it. Tempo was up and the notes were down. A lot of the excellent musicianship all night I attribute to the brilliant drumming of Andrew Rankin. I know via my pals Django and Dylan Bates he’s been busy playing over the years outside of non-Pogues material. It shows.

The Broad Majestic Shannon was indeed majestic, and A Pair Of Brown Eyes reminded me how great a songwriter MacGowan is.

Spider Stacey took over vocals for Tuesday Morning so MacGowan could take his little break. A few things stuck me at this stage: 1. Stacey was drinking water (and looking great for it); 2. the whole band were really lucid; 3. The could have played anything from Waiting For Herb here and it would have sounded great here – personally I would have preferred to have heard something like Drunken Boat or Girl From Wadi Hammamat – but I know that Tuesday Morning was a big hit for them.

Irish Lullaby saw MacGowan come back on with any delay. Kitty was beautiful and indeed Spider even said earnestly “That was lovely.” The Sunny Side Of The Street reminded me how MacGowan is happy taking his life as he would a whore and he will not be reconstructed. And why should he? The brass on this really lifted it.

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda was one of the highlights for me. Never thought I’d ever hear this played live and was great to hear it played so much like the original, even down to the brass. The opening with just Jem Finer’s banjo and MacGowan’s vocals were humbling. Although this was an Eric Bogle piece, it still made me ponder on these two guys’ great songwriting partnership.

Repeal Of The Licensing Laws and Body of An American were a hoot. (I know I have the order of these songs all mixed up now.) Boys Of The County Hell was played too. Love that they were playing so much of the old stuff. The musicianship of the band was of a really high standard. Terry Woods is always awesome.

I once met Darryl Hunt in a bar and I was telling him how I used to play bass to loads of Pogues material and how difficult I found Thousands And Sailing “Yeah me too!” he exclaimed” “And then he changed the key!” Great to hear it. Chevron is a great rhythm player. His wrist is fluid as you like.

Dirty Old Town had the whole place singing. Was nice to hear this given the amount of times I have played it over the years. I did think it was  a bit of a shame they didn’t jump up to C for the solo but that was a tiny niggle. The brass sounded great.

Bottle Of Smoke was lively as anything and The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn made me ask myself why I have never played this song live. Such a great tune. They headed off and then came back on for Sally MacLennane, why have I never played that either? Amazeballs!

I once met Shane MacGowan at a Nick Cave gig and told him Rainy Night In Soho was one of the most beautiful songs ever written. It was true tonight. Three chords and the truth. Irish Rover was a mad party and the band left again and came on for Poor Paddy. Nice to hear them play the old stuff as I say.

Fiesta was the final song. James Fearnley was the showman as he had been throughout. I remember heaing Joe Strummer once say that he plays that accordion like a rock god plays his electric guitar. Not wrong there Joe. Jem Finer took up the sax and joined the party at the back – and the front actually as they did the conga in the middle. When they arrived back just in time for the chorus I was thinking what fun they must have playing this stuff. Obviously  they do otherwise they would have stopped. Pure amazeballs!

Thinking back it’s hard to remember what song had each player playing what instrument as they were chopping and changing so much. Great night’s craic. I don’t think I will leave it so long before I see them next time. My wife explained to me that that was one of the best gigs I have ever taken her to, and she’s seen Grinderman!!

Footnote: What I didn’t say in the original post and what I definitely meant to was how flawless MacGowan was. He never put a foot wrong. His singing was spot on, he came in at the right spots and his craic with the audience was mighty. Sorry I missed that out as it was a big reason why I meant to write this thing. Well done dude!