This is the last tour the Pogues will ever do. Again. And as a farewell tour it’s worth seeing. Shane MacGowan’s voice is positively astounding. He can barely stand, his speech is absolutely unintelligible, there’s not a tooth in his mouth, he dropped the microphone several times and twice knocked over his chair as he attempted to clamber up into it. He’s a volcano of spewing embers and sputtering water and his voice is still positively astounding.
The band sounded wonderful. Clean and together. Philip Chevron did a remarkable job singing the moving “Thousands are Sailing” and Spider Stacy fronted “Tuesday Morning.” Spider also repeatedly banged his head with what appeared to be a metal serving tray as percussion in the show’s closer, “Fiesta.”
The real hero of the night, however, was James Fearnley on accordion, who flipped around the stage, doing splits, holding his accordion in the air and playing it behind his head as if he were Jimi Hendrix. His antics, along with the lively stage presence of Philip Chevron, managed to glue the stoic demeanor of Jem Finer and Terry Woods together with the tension of watching MacGowan – and wondering if he’d make it through the show.
He did make it through, and it was a wonderful show. If indeed it is a farewell tour, the setlist was perfectly chosen to give the throngs of fans plenty to sing along to. What’s your favorite Pogues song? Yeah, they played that.
Photos © 2011 Marnie Ann Joyce. The Pogues play two more shows at Terminal 5 in New York City, March 16th and 17th.
Hi Marnie, I am an Argentinian fan of The Pogues.
I never saw them live, but when I read your note I went for a few seconds at NY concert. Great!!
My favourite song: The Broad Majestic Shannon
Greetings!
Mauricio