Shane MacGowan R.I.P.

A slightly belated post, but one I felt I ought to write if for no other reason than The Pogues were the first band I ever saw live.

It was two or three weeks into my first term at Uni and Elvis Costello & The Attractions were playing. I’d gone with a couple of people from my corridor who by now I vaguely knew – neither of whom had showed a liking for any sort of music other than heavy metal both before and after this gig. We’d assumed there’d be a support, but there hadn’t been any mention as to who it was.

The lights went down and a ramshackle bunch of people burst on to the stage with the lead singer yelling something at the mic before the band launched into their first song. At the time, I don’t think any of us worked out what he said, but It was probably something along the lines of “We’re The Pogues”.

It was a minute or so into that first song when I turned round triumphantly to my new acquaintances and told them that I’d actually got a single by this band and they’d recently had to change their name. “They’re shit” was the considered response. It wasn’t that much further into the set before said single got played.

At which point I started singing and doing something that vaguely passed for moving my feet. As we were near the back, I wasn’t exactly joined by many people in this enterprise. My companions looked suitably unimpressed. One of them told me later that he didn’t think he could bring himself to ever attend a gig with me again – he was true to his word.

Over the next few years I was an avid purchaser of Pogues records – singles, EPs and albums. Some even got re-purchased as CDs in later years.

I didn’t really pay much attention to anything that was released after the band’s initial split, but those songs released up to 1990 have given me a great deal of pleasure over the years. One of my sons has also got bitten by the bug and plays them often. I realise the band was more than just Shane, but he was the face of the band and wrote or co-wrote so much of the band’s original material prior to his departure.

Thanks Shane for some great songs that evoke some great memories. And I bet both those guys I went to that first gig with ended up buying Fairytale Of New York at some point!

TGG

December 4, 2023

1. 

   JC

   December 21, 2023

   Fine words.

   It also was a university gig when I first saw The Pogues. June 85. Helluva set list from an incredibly good band, given how hammered they all were when they took to the stage.

   https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-pogues/1985/university-of-strathclyde-glasgow-scotland-3bcc9074.html

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