1. They are artists and have decided that the Rolling Stones are not
2. They are truly sick of each other.

In any case I wish them luck in their attempts to try and get solo careers. Meanwhile here is a great video of them in the Muppets. All this time and I never knew this song used a banjo!

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!

Camille O’Sullivan opened the gig singing Make It Rain. She did a good job of trying to break the audience in. A tough crowd, as many London crowds are. Singapore was a good enough attempt too but she was really handicapped by a strapless dress that needed constant pulling up. She did redeem herself in the highest order though by singing one of the highlights for me which was a slowed down version of Hang Down Your Head. Really, really beautiful.

Score: 7/10

The Tiger Lillies came on and butchered the title track. Really, really poor arrangement. I didn’t get their gig at all. Shame though as they showed such great promise with their clown outfits. For me it would have been better if they had’ve kept walking when they got on the stage. Awful.

Score: 2/10

Erika Stucky entered the auditorium playing the spade. Yes. She crossed through and started shouting out through the back doors. Again I would have liked her to have left at that stage but then come back again. She then played the spade on stage like a bodhran over her shoulder. Was great. Her swedish ramblings went down a treat. She played 9th and Hennepin as well as a great chaotic version of Jockey Full Of Bourbon. She was definitely the star performer of the evening.

Score: 9/10

When I was going to this gig I was thinking to myself that if the songs are played just as they sound on the album they would have failed and unfortunately Stef Kamil Carlens did exactly that with Gun Street Girl. That was a low point for me as this was a missed opportunity with a banjo. Cemetery Polka was just played like the album too and his little silly dance did nothing for me. By the time he sang Blind Love I wanted him to be over. No imagination.

Score: 3/10

St. Vincent came on and at least she had learnt the lyrics. (Why couldn’t these people learn the lyrics? They only played 3 songs each!) I would have liked her version of Downtown Train to have been more like Waiting For The Man. But it’s not my gig. I did dig her guitar playing and thought she had a really great presence. Also her clothes fitted her well. Liked her version of Big Black Mariah. There was a cool bass solo and possibly the best drum solo I had ever heard by the mightly Seb Rochford – this was because of his non playing. His gaps were so great that many of the audience thought that the song had finished. Then when he did play his timing was impeccable and slow and deliberate. As I say one of the best drums solos I have heard in any gig. Ever.

St Vincent Score: 8/10

Seb Rochford Score: 11/10

Rain Birds was a lovely piano-double bass duet (not on the Rain Dogs album) performed by Steve Nieve and Tom Herbert. Yes it was just like the original with the odd flourish here and there but it was great to hear this live.

Score: 9/10

Arthur H. then came on a butchered Clap Hands. I actually left towards the end of the song to go to the loo as it was just too awful for my little ears. When I came out he was still awfulling his way through it. When he sang Time I was quite upset. Here was one of the best songs being played towards the end so maybe even a climax and this guy a. Hadn’t learnt the lyrics and b. Hadn’t the grasp of the melody of the chorus! Really piss poor.

Score: 1/10

The Tiger Lilies came back on and so I left.

I just searched Twitter to see if I was the only one to think that this was a hit or miss gig but it seems I am in the majority. For me the girl performers won 3-0 easy with the band all doing a mighty job. As I said this was the second Tom Waits tribute I have ever seen. I think I might just bother with the next one.

Overall score: 4/10.

Ed is a composer and gave me a copy of his new CD Dzama Stories featuring sax player Paul Dunmall. Going to have to wait until son and Lin are out before I play it. I insisted Ed sign it. He wrote: “TO CORMAC TURN IT UP TO 11! ED X”

Anyway Ed met my son and son was suitably entertained. He seemed to stare at Ed. I am sure he was sucking the genius out of him.

- “Are you talking to me?”

I have imported itiswhatever into cormacheron.com/blog and from now I will be blogging in cormacheron.com/blog.

I will still be blogging about work / social media things in brightbeehive.com/blog but this site will be more about what it is that interests me on a personal level.