The Pogues @ Roseland Ballroom: Shane Lives!

Talk about toughing it out for your fans. The Pogues took the stage tonight ... all of them.

Shane MacGowan hurt his foot in Boston, and was forced to cancel Wednesday night performance at Roseland. When Phil Chevron posted a statement on their fan operated website stating that all systems were go, I knew it was going to be a wild night.

For this night, I got a photo pass to document the experience, so I saw first hand Shane being hoisted onto the stage in his wheelchair and wheeled out by an assistant who can only be described as an Irish version of trailer trash. He looked a little tired, but he gave a sly smile to the crowd who was already a 100% pumped. True to form, he had a big bottle of whiskey by his side for his first song, "Streams Of Whiskey". The man's like Rasputin, you can't stop him. He managed to belt out all the screams and yulps all while being seated and probably in some discomfort.

Here's the setlist:

• Repeal of the Licensing Laws
• Streams Of Whiskey
• If I Should Fall From Grace With God
• The Broad Majestic Shannon
• Turkish Song Of The Damned
• A Pair of Brown Eyes
• Boys From the County Hell
• White City
• Young Ned Of The Hill
• Tuesday Morning
• Kitty
• Sayonara
• Sunnyside of The Street
• Body of an American
• Lullaby of London
• Thousands Are Sailing
• Dirty Old Town
• Bottle of Smoke
• The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn
• Encore: Sally MacLennane
• Rainy Night in Soho
• The Irish Rover
• The Star Of County Down
• Poor Paddy
• The Auld Triangle
• Fiesta

When I saw The Pogues last year, I came away thinking the performance was just about perfect. It felt like the band never disbanded and continued on playing. Add to that the experience of going to the show, it's similar to seeing the Grateful Dead. You see all these characters and people from all walks of life. Yes, it gets a nutty in the crowd.

I just like looking at the people who attend these shows. You have every Irish stereotype except Irish bare-knuckle fighter and leprechauns. I did see a wicked fistfight break-out, leaving both parties bloodied, but they didn't have a handle-bar mustache and a bowler hat. The crowd looked like a casting call for The Departed. I overheard some chick on her phone -- "Myyy-key, wear duh fahk ahhhh you." I saw a drunk lady doing the traditional Irish step dance, alongside a bald woman in a leather jacket. My favorite sight was when I was in the photo area and I see this old man, maybe in his 60s, minding his own business, being smashed against people in front of the moss pit and against the rail. The old man stood his ground. Hats off to you.

As for myself, I watched the rest of the show in the balcony. I didn't have the energy to be downstairs. When I eventually went down to the floor towards the end of the show, it smelled beyond belief -- like that musty, beer soaked pot smell mixed with sweat. Nasty shit.

Hey, it's part of the experience. Hopefully, if you haven't seen them yet, this reunion tour of sorts will come back around next year, making it a tradition. I interviewed Terry Woods and the band is a having great time coming together for a few months. You can read part one of that interview here.

Finally, big congrats to my man Langhorne Slim for opening up the show. It was his largest audience to date and he gave his most energetic performance that I've seen. The Holloways were suppose to open on Tuesday and on Saturday, St. Patty's Day, the Tossers take the stage.

Comments

[Siobhan]

I'm just wondering what show you were at? The Wednesday show was cancelled: your post is posted on the 16th so it wasn't the St Pat's day show and I was at the show on the 15th where the Holloways opened, no Langhorne Slim. Did I miss something or is it just my stereotypical Irish brain wondering if a fast one is being pulled?